“I Don’t Profile, Sir”

Those young men on the street — do they grab their baggy pants because they don’t wear belts, or because they’re carrying guns?

A jury heard that question debated on the fifth floor of the Church Street state Superior Court building Monday afternoon.

It was one of two interesting questions of human behavior that arose during a day of testimony.

The questions arose during a trial of a New Haven man who faces 21 charges, including six felony charges, in connection with a July 2011 incident. He allegedly led officers on a high-speed car chase, then a foot chase; threw an illegally possessed pistol into a Dumpster; and failed to wear a seat belt, among other offenses. The same man — who has been jailed on $150,000 bond since the incident — has seven charges pending in three other separate cases, including alleged assault and narcotics charges. (Read about the 2011 incident here.)

The man’s attorney, Paul McCarty, called Officer Juan Ingles (pictured above in a 2011 file photo) to the stand Monday. Ingles had conducted the car and foot chases and eventually caught up with the man that fateful July day.

McCarty sought to trip up Ingles on his recollection of details of the incident, including details of the construction of storage areas for two Dumpsters behind a Taco Bell, where the defendant allegedly tossed the illegal pistol during the foot chase. Ingles kept his cool, answering slowly, calmly, sometimes with a slight smile. To McCarty’s chagrin, Ingles would look at him while hearing a question, then turn to the jury to deliver his heartfelt answers. He locked eyes with rapt jurors, delivering his lines slowly and clearly.

“Officer, address yourself to me please!” McCarty finally demanded.

“The officer can either look at your or look at the jury. There are no restrictions,” Judge Brian T. Fischer responded.

So McCarty moved on to the Dumpster design question, then to the baggy pants.

At one point in the chase, Ingles reported, the defendant was reaching for his waistband. That made Ingles concerned that the defendant may have had a second gun.

“Is it possible,” McCarty asked him, ​“that he’s holding his pants because he doesn’t have a belt? … Isn’t it common for certain individuals” in parts of New Haven to wear their pants drooping low?

“I don’t profile, sir,” Ingles responded. Ingles is Latino, McCarty white. The defendant is black; the eight-member jury, all white.

“I didn’t say you profile. Isn’t that a common sight”? McCarty pressed. ​“Isn’t it possible he was holding his pants because he didn’t want to trip?”

He tried the question several different ways, including during a subsequent set of questions about what happened when Ingles caught up with the defendant. Ingles continued to state that he had reason to conclude that his safety was at stake.

“He goes, reaches into his waistband,” Ingles said, speaking directly again to the jury. ​“I don’t know if he’s reaching because his pants are going to fall or he has a gun.”

The jury was also left to consider a second question: Why the defendant opened his mouth when Ingles ended up shooting him with his Taser for the third time.

Ingles testified that he had used his Taser when he caught up with the suspect to stop him from reaching for a possible gun or resisting. He administered a five-second blast of 5,000 volts. The man fell to the ground.

Then the man tried to lift himself up, Ingles testified. He thought the man was trying to ​“flee or fight.” He Tased him again. But as he started to Tase the man, the man yelled, ​“I give up! I give up!” ingles testified. So he stopped the blast mid-Tase.

Once the man was in handcuffs, Ingles said, he helped the man to his feet. At that point the man ​“turns around … touches my hand … opens his mouth and goes toward my hand. I believe [it was] an attempt to bit me.”

“Is it possible,” attorney McCarty asked, ​“he opened his mouth to protest any further Tasing?”

“It can be anything. It can be yawning,” Ingles responded.

“You can’t say with absolute certainty,” McCarty pressed, that the suspect was trying to bite.

“That’s the jury’s decision,” Judge Fischer interjected. The jurors will decide what they believe the man’s intent was in opening his mouth.

“When he opened his mouth in a way that offended you …” McCarty continued.

Ingles didn’t cede the point.

“It didn’t offend me,” he responded. ​“I just didn’t want to get bit.”