Thomas Breen file photo
Chief Jacobson: This is “an example of us policing ourselves.”
A police officer who quit before he could be fired drove 78 miles per hour down Howard Avenue — and 119 miles per hour on I‑95 — as he sought to stop a car with tinted windows.
That was one of seven incidents that led the police department to investigate and ultimately seek to fire Officer Trevor Canace before he put in his resignation.
The speeding details are included in an Internal Affairs (IA) report describing a police investigation that found that then-Officer Canace violated departmental policy when he engaged in a high-speed pursuit on April 12, 2024.
The report describes Canace speeding through a stop sign and a red traffic light in the Hill and continuing that pursuit onto the highway while chasing a car with tinted windows and a paper plate.
Canace told police investigators he thought the car might have been stolen, though he cited no source for that information. He also insisted that he was not pursuing the vehicle but instead was trying to catch up to it in order to initiate a traffic stop.
Police investigators ultimately found that Canace violated “General Order 12.03 — Vehicle Pursuits,” which generally prohibits police officers from engaging in car chases unless they have “reasonable suspicion” that the suspect has committed a violent crime. The policy also allows for vehicle pursuits when there are “exigent circumstances that warrant the need to apprehend the suspect in a timely manner because of the potential for harm to the public if the apprehension does not occur.”
The case was one of two sustained IA investigations that Police Chief Karl Jacobson cited when he put Canace up for termination at a special meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners scheduled for June 25. (The other involved a separate incident, from March 17, 2024, when investigators found that Canace violated the department’s vehicle pursuit policy when he rammed his cruiser into a car he was chasing on Long Wharf for having its lights off late at night.)
“We’re never happy to do this,” Chief Jacobson told the Independent last week when talking about recommending that an officer be fired. He described Canace’s case as “an example of us policing ourselves,” and praised police supervisors for flagging Canace’s problematic behavior on the job, leading to the internal investigation and subsequent chief’s recommendation that he be terminated.
Jacobson also said that Canace, who joined the local police department in June 2020, was the subject of seven different IA investigations for local department policy violations that took place between March 2023 and April 2024. Jacobson said that all seven allegations of wrongdoing were sustained by IA, and that Canace had been “off the streets” since April of last year up until his resignation last week.
Click here to read the two IA reports in full.
78 On Howard; 119 On I-95
The IA report about the high-speed chase was written on Jan. 28 of this year by Det. Daniel Conklin. It states that Chief Jacobson ordered an investigation into the April 12, 2024 motor vehicle pursuit on April 15.
The report begins by referencing a memo written by Sgt. Justin Cole, who was the shift commander for the B‑Squad the night of April 12.
Cole wrote that, at 6:55 p.m., he heard Canace transmit over the police radio that he was attempting to stop a car on I‑95 North near Exit 50. Canace’s radio transmission was “difficult to understand due to his radio not being clear,” leading Cole to believe that Canace may have transmitted over the police radio from outside of the City of New Haven.
Cole went on to review dash camera footage from Canace’s pursuit.
Cole wrote that the pursuit began at around 6:53 p.m. in the Hill. The IA report later states that Canace was traveling north on Hallock Avenue, turned left onto Second Street, and was approaching Howard Avenue when a silver-colored sedan appeared in front of his vehicle. That silver-colored car “began traveling at a high rate of speed” in an effort to get away from the officer.
Canace activated his overhead lights and sirens and sped after the car at around 70 miles per hour down Howard Avenue. Cole noted that Howard is a residential area with a posted speed limit of 25 miles per hour.
“Sgt. Cole continued that he observed Ofc. Canace violated a traffic control signal, failed to clear an intersection, and operated his vehicle on the wrong side of the road,” Conklin wrote, “all while never notifying police dispatch or other officers of his actions.”
Later in the report, Conklin’s own review of the dash cam footage showed that Canace drove through a stop sign at Second Street and Howard Avenue, reached a speed of 78 miles per hour on Howard, sped at 71 miles per hour through a red traffic light at the intersection of Howard and Fifth Street, and drove on the wrong side of the road through the Sea Street rotary.
Canace then pursued the silver-colored vehicle onto I‑95 North at “an extremely high rate of speed,” reaching a top speed of 119 miles per hour “with moderate traffic observed” in all lanes. The officer crossed the Q Bridge at speeds reaching 99 miles per hour, on a highway with a posted speed limit of 55.
At 6:55 p.m., around 2 minutes and 16 seconds after he first activated his emergency lights — after having traveled three miles during this pursuit — Canace made his first contact with police dispatch regarding the pursuit and attempted motor vehicle stop.
“Sgt. Cole then documented that after Ofc. Canace terminated the pursuit it appeared as if he continued to pursue the vehicle with no emergency lights or siren on,” Conklin wrote. Canace reached top speeds of 94 miles per hour as he continued to pursue the vehicle on the highway. He also manually turned on and off his dash cam during this time, with his siren and emergency lights off.
Canace ultimately exited I‑95 North at Exit 53 in Branford at around 6:58 p.m.
Cole alerted the patrol supervisor, Sgt. Jonathan Caron, as well as the patrol commander, Capt. Nicholas Marcucio, with his concerns. Marcucio directed Cole to remove Canace from patrol duties and assign him to the police department’s detention facility until April 15, 2024.
In a separate memo, Caron wrote that he asked Canace what the reason was for the attempted motor vehicle stop, and that Canace replied it was for “front window tints.” Caron then advised Canace of how “reckless this pursuit was,” particularly given that he reached a speed of 119 miles per hour and failed to alert police dispatch to the pursuit.
Canace's Side: This Wasn't A Pursuit
On May 31, 2024, Sgt. Christopher Fennessey and Det. Conklin interviewed Canace at the police department’s Office of Internal Affairs. Canace was represented by police union President Florencio Cotto.
Canace reportedly classified the incident as an attempted motor vehicle stop.
“Ofc. Canace stated that he observed the vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed with ‘very dark window tint’. He continued that at that time he believed it may have been a stolen vehicle, but was unable to recall the exact source of that information.”
Canace said he attempted to catch up to the speeding car in front of him at a speed “significantly faster than the speed of traffic” and then activated his emergency lights and sirens. He said he pursued the car onto the highway “at a significant catch-up speed.”
“Ofc. Canace confirmed that the reason for the initial attempt at a motor vehicle stop was for speed, window tints, and possibly being a stolen auto,” Conklin wrote.
Canace maintained throughout his interview with police investigators that he was not pursuing the silver-colored vehicle on Howard Avenue. Instead, he said “he was trying to get into close proximity to signal it to stop, not pursuing the vehicle.”
Conklin showed Canace video of the officer driving at 119 miles per hour on the highway, with his emergency lights and siren activated, pursuing the vehicle. He showed Canace that he passed a vehicle in the breakdown lane of the highway while traveling at 98 miles per hour while the vehicle he was pursuing was still visible to the dash cam.
“However, Ofc. Canace disagreed that he was engaged in a pursuit and again stated that he was just catching up to the vehicle,” Conklin wrote.
Canace did wind up agreeing that he pursued the silver-colored vehicle when he was on the highway after he broadcast the vehicle information over police radio while reaching a speed of 102 miles per hour. He told investigators that, after he turned off his emergency lights and siren on the highway, he was no longer attempting to stop the vehicle — even though he did try to stay in close proximity, at 94 miles per hour.
Canace also did not complete a written incident report about the pursuit, stating that he was busy responding to a domestic dispute where arrests were made, and then was out sick for his following shift in detention.
Ultimately, Conklin concluded that Canace had violated the department’s policy around vehicle pursuits, even though the officer had insisted through that he wasn’t involved in a motor vehicle pursuit but “was simply attempting to catch up to the fleeing vehicle to attempt a motor vehicle stop.”