Allan Appel Photo
YPD Chief Ronnell Higgins faces Newhallville neighbors.
Once the Yale Police Department (YPD) begins its own investigation of the shooting of two unarmed people in a car in Newhallville a week ago, it will focus on why its officer’s body cam and the dash cam both were not turned on.
YPD Chief Ronnell Higgins offered that information Tuesday night at the regular meeting of the Newhallville Community Management Team, as 30 people gathered in the library of the Lincoln-Basset Community School to speak with him and New Haven top cops about the controversial shooting took place in their neighborhood last week.
The subject was the April 16 4:32 a.m. incident in which a Hamden cop and a Yale cop fired at least 16 bullets into a Honda Civic occupied by an unarmed couple at Dixwell Avenue and Argyle Street. Tuesday night’s meeting took place hours after state police, who are investigating the incident, released body camera footage of the shooting.
New Haven Acting Chief Otoniel Reyes at the meeting with Fair Haven Community Management Team Chair Michele Rodriguez.
It was the second night in a row Higgins visited a neighborhood community management team with the goal of rebuilding grassroots trust with the YPD.
Hamden officials had publicly promised that they, too, would start attending community management teams in border New Haven neighborhoods like Nehwallville. Tuesday night was this was their first opportunity to make good on their promise — but they were a no-show.
“I got my first haircut from Sam” at Eddie’s barber shop, Higgins told the gathering.
“We’re out her out of respect for the trauma people are experiencing,” Higgins said, as he walked among attentive listeners sitting at the kid tables in the school library.
YPD Community Engagement Officer Martin Parker, who was also present, said hello across the library to his former teacher from his own days attending Lincoln-Bassett.
YPD Officer Martin Parker and patrol chief Capt. Von Narcisse.
Higgins said the YPD investigation, which will begin after the completion of the state police probe, will focus on the body and dash cams of its officer at the scene, Terrence Pollock. Neither was activated during the April 16 officer-involved shooting.
“We are also open to [larger] reform measures” with the community, Higgins added. “We’ll take steps to see this doesn’t happen again.”
“We gain trust drop by drop,” YPD Assistant Chief Steven Woznyk added. “We lose it by buckets.” Woznyk, a former New Haven police officer, said collaboration between the YPD and NHPD has helped curb crime in the city.
Newhallville/East Rock Alder Steven Winter.
Newhallville/Dixwell/Prospect Hill Alder Steve Winter asked New Haven Acting Chief Otoniel Reyes how and when officers’ body cameras are activated. (The Hamden officer involved also failed to turn on his camera until right after shooting, but it was soon enough after the fact to enable investigators to recoup priorrfootage. That footage, though, did not include crucial audio from the officer’s inital encounter with the driver of the Honda Civic, Paul Witherspoon III.)
Reyes explained that the current cameras must be activated by the officers — and they have standing orders to do so in any confrontational situation.
“Is there technology that can trigger the camera automatically?” Winters asked.
Yes, Reyes said: For example, the cameras turn on when the officers puts on lights and sirens.
Winter asked about the possibility of adding a feature to automatically turn on the cameras in tense situations, to avoid a repeat of the April 16 camera failure.
“We’re looking into it,” Reyes responded.
On Wednesday, Winter told the Independent that the Hamden, New Haven, Yale, and state police all need to reassess the structural issues that contributed to last week’s traumatic incident. In particular, he said, the departments need to look at how they currently handle training around trauma-informed policing and racial biases. “We need to be doing a wholesale evaluation of everything involved at every level,” he said.
Chief Reyes with Newhallville District Manager Lt. Manmeet Colon.
Several attendees asked about patrol jurisdictions and protocols for communication — which the chiefs said they could not yet answer. People thanked the YPD and NHPD officers for being in attendance, although no mention was made of the absence of Hamden officials.
“I love to see all these uniforms,” said Jeanette Sykes, the advisor to the Newhallville CMT board.
“When changes are made, please come back to us,” Sykes asked at the end of the two-hour meeting. “Have that deep discussion with us.”
“I’ll commit to that,” said Chief Higgins.
Reyes concurred.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Winter questioned whether last Tuesday’s shooting was a problem of two individuals screwing up or of a larger structural problem with policing. Winter said he firmly believes last week’s shooting resulted from structural policing problems, not the misbehavior of two individuals.
Previous coverage of this case:
• Hamden Cop Shoots Woman In Newhallville
• Protesters Storm PD Seeking Answers In Officer-Involved Shooting; Officials Mum
• Cop Who Shot Was Trained In New Haven
• Shot-At Man Plans To File Suit; Clerk Describes Original Complaint
• Outrage Over Shooting Shuts Down Streets
• Elicker: Remove Griffin From Shooting Probe
• Post-Shooting, Focus On Suburban Cops
• Griffin Obtains Search Warrant For Shot-Up Honda; Harp Stands By Griffin
• Top Yale Cops Seek To Rebuild Trust
• Public Seeks Independent Probe
• Farmer Backs Independent Investigation
• Cop Video Released; Hamden Never Told New Haven It Was Crossing The Border