HARTFORD, Conn. — The state trooper who investigators say fatally shot a 19-year-old driver after a high-speed chase into West Haven two years ago has been arrested on a manslaughter charge.
Trooper Brian D. North was charged with first-degree manslaughter with a firearm, Inspector General Robert J. Devlin Jr. said Wednesday. He turned himself in at the Troop I barracks in Bethany about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and posted a $50,000 bond.
Mubarak Soulemane, 19, was fatally shot at the end of a high-speed chase in a stolen car on Jan. 15, 2020. Footage from the scene shows troopers and a West Haven police officer descend on the car after it was stopped off Exit 43 of Interstate 95 North and blocked by police cars.
A video of the shooting shows North firing into the car after the trooper allegedly saw Soulemane with a knife.
In his report, Devlin concludes that neither North nor two other officers outside the car were in imminent danger of having deadly force used against them. He added that due to the police car blocking his door, Soulemane would not have been able to get out.
“Although (Soulemane) held a knife in his right hand, he was not using the knife against them nor presenting any imminent threat to do so,” he wrote.
The state police union extended condolences to Soulemane’s family in a statement on Wednesday, saying, “No Connecticut state trooper ever intends to or has the desire to take the life of another human being.”
The state police union added that it is disappointed with Devlin’s decision to prosecute North, who union leaders said was “forced to make a split-second decision during these dangerous and rapidly evolving circumstances.” The union also disagreed about the level of danger.
“Mr. Soulemane produced a knife as police officers were attempting to enter the stolen vehicle to take him into custody. Trooper North instructed another Trooper to switch from his firearm to his taser, in an attempt to use less than lethal force to effect the arrest. Tragically, due to Mr. Soulemane’s sudden movements, Trooper North was forced to discharge his duty weapon to defend the other officers who were attempting to enter the stolen vehicle to effect an arrest.
“Trooper North was forced to do exactly what he was trained to do under these circumstances when he used deadly force to protect the lives of another Trooper and a West Haven police officer,” the union said in its statement.
The shooting came amid a year of racial reckoning over police violence against people of color.
As part of police reforms in Connecticut following the death of George Floyd and calls to defund the police, Devlin, a former judge, was appointed as inspector general to investigate every use of force case and death involving police or correction officers.
Soulemane’s family had called for an independent investigation and for the trooper’s arrest after the shooting. They said he was a community college student who had schizophrenia.
Mark Arons, a lawyer for the family, said there was a cloud over the family’s head since the shooting, and they look forward to Trooper North being convicted.
“The family of Mubarak Soulemane is very happy that, after two-plus years, Trooper Brian North, who murdered Mubarak in West Haven in January 2020, may be brought to justice. It’s a long road ahead. But this is a good day,” Arons said in a previously released statement.
“It’s been two years of agony for the family,” Arons added by phone Wednesday, noting the number of rallies, vigils and press conferences that took place after the shooting.
“Now there’s a path to justice.”
The NAACP and other groups joined the family in protesting the shooting. At a memorial service for Soulemane days after his death, the Rev. Al Sharpton said something about the killing didn’t “smell right” and he vowed to fight for answers for the family.
The Rev. Kevin McCall, a civil rights leader in greater New York and adviser to the Soulemane family, said police need more training in handling people with such illnesses.
“They should be trained in how to handle mental health,” he said.
McCall added that he was with family members when they heard the trooper would be charged.
“When we heard yesterday that the officer was, in fact, going to get arrested, I was full of joy, along with the family. The mother, she broke into tears. And she said ‘Thank you, God.’ To hear that an officer was going to get arrested is definitely in the direction of justice that they have been waiting for,” McCall said.
The head of Connecticut’s NAACP, Scot X. Esdaile, said he was pleasantly surprised to hear about the arrest.
“I was shocked to be honest with you, in the very beginning, because so many times we’ve been through these situations, and we’ve been disappointed,” Esdaile said.
“Let this arrest set an example to police all over the country, that if you use deadly force without justification, you will be charged criminally,” said civil rights attorney Sanford Rubenstein, who has worked on more than 20 police brutality cases in New York, including the 2014 killing of Eric Garner.
Gov. Ned Lamont said he had not met with Soulemane’s family and added that he trusts the judicial system to provide an independent outcome for Soulemane and North.
“That’s why we have an inspector general,’’ Lamont told reporters Wednesday after an unrelated event in Newington. “Independent. Police aren’t investigating police. Give people confidence that we’re holding people accountable. That’s what that arrest, I think, means. Now, let justice take its course.’’
Asked what he would say to the Soulemane family, Lamont said, “My heart goes out to the family. But let’s see now exactly where justice leads us. It will be in the courts now. But I mourn their loss.’’
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker called Soulemane’s death a tragedy in a statement released on Wednesday.
“I have watched the video of the incident many times which leads so many of us to believe that the trooper’s actions were unjustified. This is now reinforced by the charges brought by the Inspector General,” he said in the statement. “Law enforcement officers are committed to keeping our community safe and we are grateful for the work they do on behalf our community. And it is critical that all our law enforcement officers are held to a high standard. The state trooper’s arrest, and the due process that will follow, will help ensure that there is accountability for Mubarak’s death and that justice will be served on his behalf and for his family.”
Claudine Constant, public policy and advocacy director of the ACLU of Connecticut, believes that even with a conviction, justice can never be achieved in this case.
“Mubarak Soulemane should still be alive today,” Constant said. “Justice would be police never killing Mubarak Soulemane in the first place and no one ever dying at the hands of police again, but today’s announcement is a welcome step toward individual accountability for Brian North.”
Esdaile said he expects the court process to be “grueling.”
“This will be a test of the criminal justice system,” Esdaile said.
North is currently on paid administrative leave, and his police powers have been suspended, pending criminal proceedings, state police said.
He is expected to be arraigned in Superior Court in Milford on May 3. First-degree manslaughter with a firearm is a Class B felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $15,000 in fines.
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Courant staff writer Christopher Keating contributed to this report.
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