Update: Police Release Body Cam Video; Head Punches Prompt Internal Cop Probe

Police Chief Otoniel Reyes has ordered an internal use-of-force investigation after a social-media video showed an officer punching a man in the head during an altercation inside a downtown office tower.

The incident occurred last Friday in the lobby of the Connecticut Financial Center on Church Street next to City Hall.

Officers responded to a call about a man named Shawn Marshall, whom management sought to evict from an office on the 19th floor.

More than an hour of discussion and negotiation ensued. In the end the police moved to arrest the man. A scuffle ensued. Three officers eventually wrestled the man to the ground.

At one point an officer punched the man three times in the head. The officer, Justin Cole, then deployed pepper spray.

A security guard named Jolisha Troutman recorded nine minutes of the confrontation, including the punches to the head. Another person posted the video on Facebook, where it was shared 154 times as of Tuesday afternoon.

The video also came to the attention of Greater New Haven NAACP President Dori Dumas. After watching it, she conveyed concern to Chief Reyes.

“My issue is: That’s all fine and good if you needed to arrest him. [But] I can clearly see one of the officers punching him in the head when he’s already down. It’s not good. I’m looking for answers,” Dumas, who sits on the Connecticut Bar Association’s police accountability task force, told the Independent.

Chief Reyes told the Independent Tuesday that the department plans to release body camera footage promptly. Because the incident took place over an hour and a half, reviewing and processing multiple officers’ footage has taken some time. He said he intends to release the full video.

“We can assure everyone that a transparent and full investigation will be done,” Reyes said.

Update: Police have released two full video files, showing the views from two officers’ body cameras. We have posted a video of the key nine minutes at the top of this story. Immediately above is the full one-hour 40-minute body cam video of the call as captured by one of the officers present.

Marshall, who is 52 years old, told the Independent he expects to file a suit seeking ​“three billion dollars” in damages.

“I was brutally attacked,” he said.

Police Reports: ​“Increasingly Upset & Irate”

Two of the officers, Cole and Ashley Rose McKernan, tell a different story in reports they filed about the incident. (They were accompanied on the call by an officer in training, David DeRubeis.)

They wrote that they responded to a harassment complaint on the 19th floor last Friday at 4:24 p.m. They went to the office Marshall had been renting, where he ran a business called Leadstar Consulting. (Marshall told the Independent that he is an ​“impresario known around the world” who ​“makes millionaires.”)

Marshall and the building’s management were in a dispute over an eviction order. The officers wrote that management allowed Marshall to retrieve his belongings, and he was refusing to leave. Extensive discussion ensued about whether this was a criminal lockout, and whether Marshall was being harassed.

“Eventually Mr. Marshall agreed to go to his office with myself and Donna, one of the staff members. I informed Mr. Marshall this would be a property retrieval and therefore he would be allotted 15 minutes to grab his belongings. Mr. Marshall understood. We proceeded to office 1978 which was packed with clothing and suits. Mr. Marshall had been discussing a document management had sent to him. This document stated he was to immediately vacate the premises. While gathering his belongings, Mr. Marshall showed me that this document was not on his desk, underneath his clothes. He believed this meant that he had never received such notice and therefore never had to leave. I advised Mr. Marshall that he only had 15 minutes to get his belongings and should not waste such time on arguing a civil matter. Mr. Marshall grabbed a few bags of clothing and a suit jacket, and we moved onto office 1911,” McKernan wrote.

“In office 1911 Mr. Marshall had set up a computer and had sticky notes and pieces of paper neatly spread on the tables. Mr. Marshall packed up his computer in the computer bag he had, and insisted we take a car full of clothing of his that was in the room. Mr. Marshall did not assist in carrying most of the items and instead instructed officers to carry them for him.

“It should be noted during the entire process to retrieve such items, Mr. Marshall continually talked about topics completely unrelated, including a moment we met in passing before my police interview two years ago. He went on to tell me how he believes he should run for mayor and that Chief Reyes should be his running mate. He continually told me how important he was and how great his advice to me was the day we met. Mr. Marshall‘s moods would change quickly and without warning. He yelled at officers in the 19th floor lobby, then had pleasant conversation with me and allowed me to be present during the retrieval, and then became upset whenever I tried to keep him on track. Mr. Marshall continually got off track from the main focus which was retrieving his belongings.”

Officers helped carry belongings to the lobby, McKernan wrote. Marshall said he ​“wanted to report a harassment.” Cole said he’d take the complaint, but asked him to ​“get straight the details.”

“Mr. Marshall began to tell Officer Cole about email exchanges between him and the staff, creating the contract that he eventually signed, and what he was planning to do. … Officer Cole encouraged Mr. Marshall to get to the root of his complaint. Once Mr. Marshall finally finished his complaint, Mr. Marshall screamed at officers to get the ID of a staff member upstairs because the staff member supposedly harassed Mr. Marshall.”

The call had now run more than an hour, according to McKernan. Marshall ​“became increasingly upset and irate.” Officers threatened to arrest him, and tried to get him to leave the building ​“through polite requests,” which he disobeyed, according to McKernan.

Punches & Kicks

That’s when the scuffle ensued. The body-cam video at the top of the story shows the view from McKernan’s body camera. It can be viewed in part at the 1:57 mark of Troutman’s video, which appears above.

The police body cam video at the top of the story shows two key moments at issue in this case: Marshall kicking at 2:40; Cole punching at 2:50. The video also shows repeated efforts by McKernan to defuse the conflict.

Here’s McKernan’s version in the report:

“Officer Cole attempted to secure Mr. Marshall in handcuffs and advised that he was arrested. Mr. Marshall immediately panicked and jerked away from officers, trying to flee. Officers Cole and Derubeis gave Mr. Marshall repeated instruction to put his hands behind his back and stop resisting officers. Mr. Marshall continued screaming at officers to stop touching him and attempted to get away from him. Mr. Marshall fell to the ground and immediately began attempting to kick officers. I managed to avoid getting kicked. Officers Cole and Derubeis were on top of Mr. Marshall, attempting to get control of his arms while Mr. Marshall actively resisted officers. I attempted to gain control of Mr. Marshall‘s legs by putting my bodyweight on them. In getting into this position, my camera was kicked off of my body by Mr. Marshall’s kicks.

“Officers continued giving Mr. Marshall commands to which he continuously refused to obey. Officer Cole deployed his OC spray, and shortly after this Mr. Marshall stopped fighting.”

Troutman can be heard on the video objecting to the officers’ conduct, saying that Cole didn’t need to punch Marshall. She thanked McKernan for intervening to stop the punches. (Troutman declined to speak further about the incident on the record for this story.)

Right after the punches, as seen and heard on the police body cam video, Troutman screams, ​“That’s not fair!” Cole responds by pointing at her and saying, ​“Mind your own business!”

Marshall can be heard on the video saying, ​“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!” and ​“I can’t breathe.”

After the pepper spraying, Marshall ​“begg[ed] for water on his face,” and McKernan poured some over it, McKernan wrote.

That is visible in the video as well. ​“It hurts, but you’re OK,” McKernan is shown reassuring Marshall as she responds to the request. ​“When AMR comes, they’ll have a saline wash.”

Here’s Officer Cole’s version, from his written report:

“[I] told Marshall to turn around so that I can place him in handcuffs. Marshall quickly ran away from me and Officers DeRubeis/McKernan. We pushed him up against the wall to be handcuffed but he swung away from us. Marshall continued to swing his arms away from us and again tried to run away. We then took Marshall to the ground. As I attempted to try and control Marshall, he violently kicked me in the area of my thighs. This action caused me to fall several feet backwards and also caused my department-issued camera to fall off of my jacket.

“After kicking me, Marshall also tried to kick Officer McKernan from a ground position. Officer DeRubeis tried to handcuff Marshall but he continued to yell and kick. I noticed that Officer DeRubeis‘ prescription glasses had fallen off as well as his department-issued winter hat. Marshall made a spitting noise and I attempted to get my hand near his face to prevent him from doing so. Marshall continued to refuse to be handcuffed or to roll over onto his back.

“To try and gain control, I punched Marshall in the area of his head three times. Marshall was again instructed to give us his hands to be handcuffed or to roll over onto his back. Marshall said ​‘I‘m not resisting arrest’. For several seconds, Marshall kept his hands clenched to his chest and would swing away his arms when Officer DeRubeis attempted to place him in handcuffs. Marshall then attempted to get back up on his feet and run away. I grabbed Marshall in the shoulder area and threw him back onto the ground. Officer McKernan attempted to sit on his legs to prevent him trying to flee again. Marshall continued to refuse to be handcuffed as Officer DeRubeis kept trying to place his hands in a frontal position to be cuffed. I withdrew my department-issued OC Spray and dispersed one to two bursts of it to Marshall‘s face. Seconds later, Officer DeRubeis and I were able to handcuff Marshall in the front area of his body.”

Marshall told the Independent that the officers attacked him unprovoked.

“I didn’t swing a punch. I stretched my hands wide like Jesus. They were unable to put the handcuffs on me,” he said.

“I come from a long line of strong black men. We have been standing up to slave catchers for years,” he continued.

After the officer punched him and put a knee in his chest, he said, ​“when I was in the fetal position, I kicked him in the face. I hope he broke his jaw.”

The police body cam video shows Marshall kicking the officers at the 2:40 mark, adn the punches at the 2:50 mark.

When Cole gives Marshall a warning to comply with orders to leave or face arrest, Marshall responds, ​“Arrest me? Go ahead on arrest me!”

“We don’t want to do that,” McKernan tells him at one subsequent point. At another she says, ​“We don’t want to treat you like a child sir. We want to get you out of a building where you’re not allowed to be.”

Marshall was taken to 1 Union Ave. and booked on charges of assaulting a police officer, interfering with an officer, first-degree trespass, and disorderly conduct. He was subsequently released.

The Financial Center management employee who dealt with Marshall and police during the incident declined comment.