Lt. Ray Talks Bill Down. Cut!

“Bill” (played by actor Owen Hughes) wasn’t himself. Luckily, Lt. Ray Hassett (played by police Lt. Ray Hassett, who’s also an actor) showed up to help. Officer Darryl Cargill (playing Officer Cargill) was on hand to tell a true-to-life ​“white lie.”

Unlike Owen Hughes, Hassett and Cargill had encountered situations like this in real life, in uniform.

Now, like Hughes, they were simulating a real-world situation.

Fact and fiction do-si-doed on Chapel Street Thursday afternoon as Hassett and Cargill helped film a video about how cops can help mentally unstable people get the help they need.

The one-camera production filmed a scene in the park at the corner of Chapel and Day streets. It was an effort organized by the Connecticut Alliance for the Betterment of Law Enforcement (CABLE), a group that works to help public safety personnel deal with mental health emergencies.

The finished video will show New Haven cops handling upset people in two different scenarios. CABLE Executive Director Louise Pyers said
Cable will send the short to police chiefs around the state to encourage them to implement Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training.

New Haven already has a CIT program in place, headed up by Lt. Hassett, the top cop for the Dwight neighborhood. Hassett also has other qualifications for taking a role in Thursday’s video — like the fact that he was in movies for years before he became a police officer.

“I was a professional actor,” Hassett said. He was in ​“Superman,” ​“Ragtime,” and ​“The Spy Who Loved Me,” among other films.

He played Echo Base Senior Logistics Officer Tigran Jamiro in ​“The Empire Strikes Back,” where he famously warned Han Solo it was a suicide mission to jump on a tauntaun and go try to save Commander Skywalker on the ice planet Hoth.

“Your tauntaun’ll freeze before you reach the first marker,” Jamiro cautions Solo.

“Then I’ll see you in hell!” fires back the irascible interplanetary smuggler.

Click the play arrow to watch the scene.

The improvised dialogue for Thursday’s production was not quite as snappy. It began with Stonington actor Hughes getting into the role of ​“Bill” by sitting at a concrete bench and muttering to himself. Bill is ​“just some guy,” Hughes later explained. He worked in construction, then made a big real estate investment that went sour. That triggered his drinking problem. Things spiraled out of control.

Pretty soon Bill found himself face to face with Lt. Hassett and Officer Cargill.

With the camera rolling, Cargill told Bill he was there because police had a report of a man who might be sick in the park.

“Have a seat for me,” Cargill said calmly. ​“My name is Darryl.”

“My name is Ray,” Hassett said.

“You don’t look like a Ray,” Bill said warily. He said he’d lost everything.

“Eighteen years ago, I lost my house too,” Cargill said. This is not true, Cargill later explained. But it’s the kind of ​“white lie” he sometimes tells in such situations, he said. Even in real life, a cop has to ​“role play” a little bit in order to create a connection with someone, he said.

Hassett asked what Bill had had to eat.

“Wrong question. What did I have to drink today?” Bill said. He said he started with beer and went from there.

Still trying to create a connection, Cargill asked about Bill’s wedding ring.

“I’m not going there with you,” Bill warned.

Hassett cut to the chase. ​“Here’s the deal. People called because they’re worried about you. We want to make sure you’re OK,” he said. ​“You seem pretty upset. It’s sounds like you’re going through some stuff.”

Eventually, Hassett convinced Bill to stand up and consent to a pat-down by Cargill. ​“We need to make sure you don’t have any exploding canaries or parrots that bark in the night,” he said. It’s a line he’s used in real life, when he’s a cop for real, just to lighten the mood, he said.

“Take a deep breath. This is very routine,” he said. He had Bill stand up and consciously relax his shoulders.

“That’s my stuff!” Bill exploded as Cargill took a razor and keys out of his pockets.

The camera man cut the scene for a minute to set up a new shot.

“Was that crazy enough?” Hughes asked. ​“You took all my shit!”

“That’s reality,” Cargill said.

AMR paramedics Russ Pierson and John Rossotto — playing themselves — rolled up a stretcher and packaged a now-compliant Bill up for transportation.

As the ambulance doors closed, Hassett and Cargill shook hands for the camera. Another job well done. And another film credit for Ray Hassett.