A white Connecticut state police officer was acquitted Friday of manslaughter in the death of Mubarak Soulemane, a black student with mental illness who was shot while behind the wheel of a stolen car holding a kitchen knife.
Trooper Brian North, 33, could have faced up to 40 years in prison had he been convicted in the 2020 shooting, which the state’s inspector general said should not have happened because the officers were not in immediate danger. But the six-member jury acquitted him of that charge and two lesser counts: second-degree manslaughter with a firearm and negligent homicide.
After the verdict was read, North shook hands with his attorneys and hugged the head of the state police union, Andrew Matthews.
North fired his gun seven times at close range at the car door after Soulemane, 19, led police on a high-speed chase through several towns on Interstate 95. The shooting occurred less than a minute after the chase ended in West Haven when the police surrounded. the car after it crashed into another vehicle.
North testified that he fired when Soulemane pulled out a 9-inch knife and made a threatening motion. North said he believed Soulemane posed a danger to police officers who were on the other side of the car and had just broken the passenger door window.
But Inspector General Robert Devlin, who investigates all use of deadly force by police in the state, said no officers were in danger because the stolen car was locked and had nowhere to go. According to him, the officers made no attempt to de-escalate the situation.
The local NAACP and clergy described the shooting as yet another unnecessary killing of a black man by police, but race was not discussed during the trial. Soulemane’s family and supporters mainly called for North’s arrest. The Rev. Al Sharpton attended Soulemane’s memorial service and said North did not seem vindicated.
The state police union, meanwhile, criticized Devlin for attacking North, saying the trooper had to make a split-second decision and believed he was protecting other officers.
A jury of six people in Milford decided the verdict after hearing evidence and closing arguments over eight days.
According to his family, Soulemane suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Police said the series of events began on January 15, 2020 when Soulemane displayed a knife at an A.T.&T store in Norwalk and tried unsuccessfully to steal a cell phone. Police said he then struck a Lyft driver and drove away in the driver’s car after the driver got out, leading police on a 30-mile chase from Norwalk to West Haven at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour. during the afternoon rush hour.
Norwalk officers had ended their pursuit before it reached I-95 due to the high speed and heavy traffic, and the fact that no violent crime had occurred. State police continued the pursuit after receiving false information that the carjacking was a carjacking, according to trial testimony. State troopers said Soulemane hit their cruisers during the chase.
The chase ended when Soulemane left the highway, struck a civilian’s car and was trapped by troopers and local police in West Haven. Police said the officers ordered him to exit the car, but he did not comply.
State police body camera footage shows a West Haven officer smashed the passenger door window of the stolen vehicle before another trooper, Joshua Jackson, shot Soulemane through the window with a Taser, although this had no effect on Soulemane, who suffered a severe wore jacket. jacket.
North told jurors he fired his gun because he thought the West Haven officer — whom he couldn’t see — had leaned in through the broken window and was in danger from Soulemane, who made a move toward the passenger side of the car while holding him. the knife.
“I was afraid he was going to be stabbed in the face or neck, which obviously could be a fatal injury,” North testified. “I felt like I had to act at that moment or the West Haven officer, and possibly even Trooper Jackson, could have been killed.”
North said he still thinks about the shooting every day and loses sleep over it. He said it was a difficult experience to live with as he became a soldier to help people.
The inspector general asked North why he decided to shoot. They noted that the officers had boxed in the car, the car’s windows were open and Soulemane was sitting in the driver’s seat and not moving as they ran to the car.
The officers, Devlin suggested, could have tried talking to Soulemane over their cruiser PA systems instead of running to the car and escalating things. Soulemane was shot about 35 seconds after North got out of his cruiser.
“Now that you’ve seen all the videos and heard the testimony from those officers, there was essentially no danger to anyone outside the car… correct?” Devlin asked North.
‘Not from what I could see now and after hearing testimonies. But what I perceived at that moment is that there was danger,” North said.
North previously testified that the situation quickly unfolded and escalated when the West Haven officer broke the passenger door window.
Two law enforcement experts who reviewed the case testified for the defense. They believed the shooting was justified, but their conclusions were excluded from the trial because the judge said the final decision was for the jury to decide. However, an expert who testified on behalf of the plaintiff determined that the officers had time to pause and de-escalate the situation.
Soulemane’s mother, sister and girlfriend were the first to testify at the trial. They said that in the days leading up to the shooting, Soulemane’s mental health problems worsened and his behavior became erratic and paranoid — a situation the family had previously experienced when he stopped taking his medications.
Soulemane’s mother, Omo Mohammed, has an ongoing case against the police over the murder.