Bodycams were improperly used in a New Haven, Connecticut police shooting that sent a woman to the hospital, according to the New Haven Independent.
What We Know:
- Connecticut state police released bodycam footage of the shooting, on Tuesday.
- Hamden police officer, Devin Eaton, was responding to an alleged attempted armed robbery during the early morning of April 16. Eaton and Yale officer, Terrance Pollock, boxed in a red Honda Civic with an unarmed couple inside before firing at least 16 shots into the vehicle.
- The video from a bodycam worn by Eaton, showed him shooting directly into the passenger window of the car. However, the camera was not turned on until after the encounter. Pollock waited so long before turning his camera on, that it lacked footage of the shooting. Additionally, Eaton never notified New Haven police that he was crossing town lines to confront a suspect, according to James Rovella, the state’s police commissioner.
- Passenger Stephanie Washington was wounded and taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries considered not life-threatening. The driver, Paul Witherspoon III, was not injured but plans to file a lawsuit.
- Witherspoon’s uncle, Rodney Williams told CBS News the shooting is not an issue of race, but basic policing. “The police could be black, white, Puerto Rican … it’s just a police issue … I think we need to be respected as human beings and I feel like they really don’t,” Williams said.
The state police and state’s attorney’s office are conducting an investigation into the shooting. After their investigation ends, Yale University will begin one of their own, according to a letter written by the president of the university, Peter Salovey.
