Ex-Top Cop Trial, Day 2: Police-Domestic Violence Risks Take Center Stage

A domestic violence prevention worker knew that the woman at the other end of the phone line was at ​“high risk” for suffering further harm.

She knew that this woman needed a safe place for herself and her kids to escape to far from home.

And she knew that this all-too-common situation was rendered more dangerous and complicated — because the alleged abuser was a cop.

Alyssa Cretella offered that testimony Tuesday midday in a fifth-floor courtroom at 235 Church St. during the second day of the jury trial of arrested former New Haven police Lt. Rahgue Tennant. 

The state has charged Tennant, the former district manager of New Haven’s Dixwell neighborhood, with three domestic-violence felony and misdemeanor counts after he was arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife, holding his family hostage, and threatening to shoot up his East Shore home in 2018. Tennant turned down a plea deal and is fighting the charges.

While Monday’s trial day focused on Tennant’s alleged pattern of physically and verbally abusing his then-wife, Tuesday saw the case’s focus shift in part to a broader issue: that of the heightened risks and dangers and complications that come from when an alleged perpetrator of domestic violence is also a police officer.

That shift occurred during the testimony of three of the state’s witnesses: Cretella, a former domestic violence advocate counselor with BHcare’s Umbrella Center for Domestic Violence; Marina Davila, who works as an Umbrella Center legal services advocate counselor; and state Department of Children and Families (DCF) social worker Luigina Allen.

State prosecutors Kelly Davis and Jason Germain didn’t call those witnesses on Tuesday to ask them about a bigger-picture perspective on what happens when police officers commit domestic violence, or about the numerous city police officers who have been arrested on domestic violence charges in recent years. (Click here, here, here, here, and here for previous Independent articles about such instances.) 

Instead, the prosecutors called those witnesses to the stand so that they could detail their interactions with Tennant’s ex-wife during her various attempts to escape her alleged abuser between June and September 2018.

In the process, the broader and thornier problem of police officers and domestic abuse loomed over those witnesses’ testimonies, as well as over the testimony of New Haven Police Sgt. Joshua Kyle, who told the court later in the afternoon that it is not uncommon at all for police officers to own their own private firearms. He made the remark in the context of identifying the four privately owned guns — including an AR15, a shotgun, and two handguns — that he retrieved from Tennant’s home the day the then-lieutenant was arrested.

"High Risk" Because Alleged Abuser Was Police Officer

“She was high risk [because of] the fact that her husband is a lieutenant police officer in New Haven and knew where all the shelters were,” Cretella told state Superior Court Judge Jon Alander about her assessment of Tennant’s ex-wife when she called for help after Tennant allegedly punched her multiple times in June 2018.

What exactly did Cretella think the ex-wife was at ​“high risk” of? Alander asked while the jury was out of the courtroom.

“Lethality,” Cretella replied. 

Alander ultimately did not allow state prosecutor Davis to solicit that testimony from Cretella in front of the jury for this case. That’s because Cretella’s assessment of Tennant’s ex-wife as being ​“high risk for lethality” applied to a June 2018 alleged domestic-violence incident that Tennant does not face any charges for. Since the judge has allowed that incident and two other incidents of ​“uncharged misconduct” to be discussed in the trial on only a very limited basis, he ruled on Tuesday that the ​“high risk” testimony was ​“just too prejudicial” for the jury to hear in their consideration of the actual charges that Tennant faces.

Cretella later told the jury in response to Davis’s questioning that she had found a shelter for Tennant’s ex-wife in Enfield after that June 2018 incident.

Why in Enfield, Davis asked, which is at the other end of the state from Tennant’s ex-wife’s then home in New Haven?

“One of her biggest fears was that he knew where the shelters were in our casement area” in New Haven and East Haven, Cretella replied. Because of his job as a police officer.

“She was fearful,” she told the state prosecutor. ​“She was scared.”

But Tennant’s ex-wife didn’t wind up following through on Cretella’s and the Umbrella Center’s offer of shelter in Enfield at that time. As Tennant’s ex-wife had testified on Monday, she stopped calling the Umbrella Center following the June 2018 alleged abuse because she recognized the name of one of its staffers as someone whom Tennant used to work with at the police department, and she was afraid that he’d find out that she had called for help.

Cretella told Davis Wednesday that she called Tennant’s ex-wife back twice after the latter’s initial call for help in late June 2018. But Tennant’s ex-wife didn’t pick up her calls, and Cretella heard nothing further from her.

The state’s third witness of the day (after Tennant’s ex-wife, who wrapped up her testimony Tuesday morning, and Cretella) was Davila.

Davila told the court that she worked as a legal services advocate counselor with the Umbrella Center in June 2018. Her job responsibilities included helping domestic-violence victims put together safety plans — like setting up a bank account separate from one’s abuser and getting one’s birth certificate, social security card, and other key documents in order to leave for good and establish a separate, independent life. 

In his cross-examination of Davila, criminal defense attorney Richard Silverstein pressed Davila on why she was trained to prepare an alleged victim like Tennant’s ex-wife for potential participation in the witness protection program when, at the time of that particular call in June 2018, there were no pending criminal charges against Tennant. Davila replied that witness protection was simply one of the programs she was trained to prepare victims for.

Davila told the court that she had a walk-in counselling session with Tennant’s ex-wife at the Umbrella Center’s East Haven offices in June 2018.

“She came to us very concerned in her relationship. She needed help to get out of it,” Davila said. ​“I recommended to her that she seek shelter, if necessary.”

Davila next spoke with Tennant’s ex-wife on Sept. 5, the day before she fled her home with her kids and Tennant was arrested by fellow city police officers.

Davila said she was working the Umbrella Center’s domestic violence hotline that day, and she got a call from Tennant’s ex-wife. ​“She was feeling overwhelmed. She was feeling upset,” she said. They put together a plan for her to flee their home on Sept. 7, when Tennant was planning to be out of town in Philadelphia for his aunt’s funeral.

She added that Tennant’s ex-wife became all the more fearful and nervous during that call when Davila told her that she was a mandated reporter and had to let DCF know about the ex-wife’s allegations of abuse against her husband. As Tennant’s ex-wife testified on Monday, she was afraid that if a DCF worker came to their home, he would find out and retaliate against her for reaching out for help.

The DCF worker who wound up making an unannounced house call at Tennant’s and his ex-wife’s family home in the East Shore on Sept. 6 was Allen.

Allen told the court that she worked at the time out of DCF’s Milford office. 

Why was she assigned Tennant’s ex-wife’s case after the Umbrella Center reported the alleged domestic violence concerns on Sept. 5? State prosecutor Jason Germain asked. That is: Why was the Milford DCF office assigned this case, when it originated in New Haven and was originally passed along to New Haven’s DCF office?

“There was a conflict of interest with Mr. Tennant being involved with the New Haven Police Department and the collaboration that often occurs between DCF and the New Haven Police Department,” Allen said.

Allen said that when she and one of her DCF colleagues initially came by the Tennant family’s East Shore house on Sept. 5, Tennant’s ex-wife answered the door and said that her then-husband and children were not at home at the time.

Did you notice anything concerning about her appearance? Germain asked.

“There was no concern with her appearance,” Allen replied. (Tennant’s ex-wife testified on Monday that she wore make up and sought to conceal the bruise to her eye when DCF workers initially knocked on her door on Sept. 6.)

What was her demeanor? Germain asked. How was she acting?

“Her demeanor was very guarded,” Allen said. ​“She was hesitant.” She looked up and down the street, Allen remembered. ​“She just seemed concerned.”

Allen said that she gave the ex-wife her card and left, because she wanted to talk to Tennant’s ex-wife and Tennant separately, and the ex-wife had told her that Tennant was picking their kids up at school and would be home soon.

When Allen got back to her desk, she saw that she had a voice message from Tennant, who had found out about her visit and wanted to know why she had come by. So she called him back, and put him on speakerphone as her supervisor listened from within the same room.

“He laughed it off,” she remembered about Tennant’s response to Allen’s description of the domestic-violence allegations. ​“He said it was a joke, that the allegations were bogus.”

Allen said she told him that she still needed to do a home visit to check in on the kids. 

“He started to get agitated,” she said. ​“He said he was a lieutenant with the New Haven Police Department and he was not allowing anyone to come to his home.” She said he hung up on her. When her supervisor called him right back, Allen said, Tennant again said ​“he was with the New Haven police and he knew his rights.”

Allen then described trying and failing to get a New Haven police escort to take her to Tennant’s house for a check in that afternoon. The next time she spoke with Tennant’s ex-wife was later that night at the Woodward Avenue police substation, she said, after the ex-wife had escaped — and where she ultimately gave her statement to the police about her then-husband’s alleged violent behavior.

She had taken off the makeup at that time. ​“There was a bruise around her eye that was very obvious,” Allen said.

The Lure Of An AR15

The prosecution’s last witness for the day was Sgt. Joshua Kyle.

Germain called Kyle to the stand to talk about his role on Sept. 6, 2018, in retrieving and bringing back to the police station Tennant’s four guns after his arrest. 

Kyle, who has worked for the New Haven Police Department for more than 14 years, was at the time a detective in the special victims unit. He was assigned to work with victims of domestic violence and to help with collecting firearms from domestic-violence scenes.

He told the court that he was called to work that day ​“because one of our own police officers was involved in a domestic issue and was held up in his home with his family.”

Under cross-examination by Silverstein, Kyle admitted that he initially learned about Tennant allegedly ​“holding up” his family at his home by reading contemporaneous media reports. He was later assigned by a sergeant on call to go to the scene to help retrieve Tennant’s personal weapons.

Kyle said he didn’t see Tennant that day. Instead, he and a fellow detective searched the property for Tennant’s weapons. They wound up finding two handguns in a locked safe in the bedroom, and two long guns — an AR15 rifle and a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun — in cases in the attic. All four weapons were stored alongside ammunition and magazines.

All of Germain’s questions of the sergeant focused on Kyle’s identification of the various weapons, ammunition, magazines, and other police equipment — like an ID and a radio — that the then-detective confiscated that day.

Germain asked Kyle to hold each unloaded weapon and other pieces of firearm-related evidence up for the jury to see as he described what each item was and where he found it in Tennant’s house on Sept. 6, 2018.

Kyle said that, based on his searches at the time, none of the guns were reported stolen, and all but one the guns were registered to Tennant. One of the handguns was not registered to Tennant. Kyle did not say who it was registered to.

Is it true that none of the weapons seized that day were issued by the New Haven Police Department? Germain asked.

That’s right, Kyle said.

During cross-examination, Silverstein emphasized that owning firearms like these — even high-capacity AR15 rifles — is not against the law. (State law does prohibit people in Connecticut from owning assault weapons, though that law includes an exception for police officers.)

“All those weapons are legal, right?” he asked about Tennant’s weapons.

“Yes, they are,” Kyle replied. 

“It’s not uncommon for police officers to have their own firearms” outside of their work-issued weapons, isn’t that right? Silverstein continued.

Correct again, Kyle said. That’s not uncommon.

Do you have an assault rifle like the one that Tennant owned? Silverstein asked.

“I wish I did,” Kyle replied. ​“I sold it.” 

He said he does have a shotgun though.

Before finishing his cross-examination, Silverstein repeated his questions about how common it is for police officers to own firearms.

These four guns are ​“all legal,” he said. And it’s ​“not uncommon for officers to have other firearms?”

“Correct,” Kyle replied.

Germain then asked Kyle a few follow-up questions on behalf of the state, particularly in response to Silverstein’s line of questioning that implied that these weapons were safely stored and not easily accessible.

When you know the combination to a safe like the one in Tennant’s bedroom, Germain asked, how easy was it to obtain the firearms from the safe?

“Very easy,” Kyle said. ​“I have the same safe at home.”

And how fast can you load a gun?

“Quickly.” he said.

What about an AR15? Germain continued. When you get your hands on that type of assault rifle and you have a high-capacity magazine and bullets, how quickly to get it loaded and ready?

“Quite the same as the handgun,” Kyle said.

Kyle was not asked about and did not offer testimony saying that this prevalence of firearms presents any particular risks to domestic violence victims whose alleged abusers are police officers. According to data cited in this New York Times analysis: Where there are more guns, there’s a greater likelihood that someone will get shot.

Kyle’s testimony came one day after Tennant’s ex-wife testified that, in early September 2018, after Tennant had allegedly thrown a Lysol can at her head and badly bruised her face, she walked in on Tennant sitting on their bed with his AR15 laid before him, loading bullets into a magazine. Later in the week, he allegedly told her that if anyone came into his home at that time, they would get ​“lit the fuck up.”

After dismissing Kyle from the witness stand at around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, the court took a brief afternoon recess. Because the state prosecutors did not have any other witnesses available to testify Tuesday afternoon, Judge Alander dismissed the jury and adjourned the trial until Wednesday.

He told the jurors that the state plans to wrap up its case against Tennant on Wednesday. The defense plans on calling witnesses and making their case that Tennant is not guilty on Thursday.

See below for previous articles about Rahgue Tennant’s arrest and criminal case.

• Ex-Top Cop Trial, Day 1: Alleged Domestic Abuse History Revealed
• Slow Start To Picking Ex-Cop’s Jury
• Ex-Top Cop Gambles On Trial
• Ex-Top Cop Seeks Diversionary Program
• Top Cop Retires, Heads To Trial
• Top Cop Rejects Battering Plea Deal
• Arrested Top Cop Keeps Running Out Clock
• Top Cop Benefits As Case Drags On
• Top Cop’s Domestic Violence Case Continued Again
• Accused Wife-Beating Top Cop Staying Sober
• Top Cop Domestic Violence Case Continued
• Cop’s Alleged Threats, Violence Detailed
• Cops Suspend Lt. After Armed Standoff