Sgt. Suspended 16 Days — Not 6 Months

The Board of Police Commissioners voted unanimously to suspend a sergeant for 16 days — not for the six months recommended by New Haven’s acting police chief — for mishandling a domestic violence case involving a drunken firefighter who later killed himself.

That vote took place Tuesday night towards the end of a two-hour police commission meeting that was held online via Zoom.

The commissioners voted to suspend New Haven Police Sgt. Jasmine Sanders 16 days without pay for various mistakes she made while supervising officers who responded to a domestic violence call in the early morning hours of May 6. 

That incident ultimately ended with off-duty New Haven Firefighter William McMillian shooting and killing himself with one of his own guns. 

Click here and here for previous Independent articles about what happened that night, Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez’s recommendation that Sanders be suspended six months without pay, and Sanders’s and the police union lawyer’s defense that she was a newly minted sergeant with inadequate training who was unfairly blamed for decisions and mistakes made by others. 

The case at first raised questions about decisions made that day — such as the responding officers’ failure to conduct a firearm check, and Sanders’s order that McMillian receive a misdemeanor summons rather than a custodial arrest. 

In the wake of a police Internal Affairs investigation and a contentious, hours-long disciplinary hearing before the police commission in November, the case also raised concerns about a breakdown in the police department’s chain of command, confusion and miscommunication during a volatile domestic violence call, allegations of favoritism towards a fellow city employee, and accusations of police brass coordination to pin all of the blame for what went wrong that night on Sanders, and Sanders alone. A more experienced supervisor who spoke at length with Sanders about the call before any action was taken was not disciplined or found at fault in the incident. 

Before voting for a 16-day suspension — which is one day longer than the 15-day minimum that brings a disciplinary matter under police commission purview — the police commissioners spent 45 minutes Monday night deliberating privately in executive session.

They then spoke for only a few minutes publicly about why they rejected Dominguez’s six-month recommendation and went with a 16-day suspension instead. 

Even so, in their public comments and their vote, the commissioners made clear Monday night that they did not think that Sanders was the only one at fault for the series of events, decisions, and mistakes that led to McMillian’s suicide. 

“It does appear that there were some system errors and some mistakes in judgment made,” Police Commissioner Mike Lawlor said on Monday.

That includes by Sanders, he said. But that is not limited to Sanders alone.

“In many ways it’s fortunate that this wasn’t a murder suicide,” he continued. ​“I think the red flags were there. They should have been recognized by every trained police officer” involved in the case.

He said that this whole case should be a ​“teachable moment” and a spur for ​“self-analysis that needs to take place in the department and the commission about what we can possibly do to ensure this doesn’t repeat itself.” 

Domestic violence calls are some of the most ​“challenging and precarious situations that law enforcement officers are involved in,” he continued, making it that much more important ​“not to overlook” lethality assessment questions and firearm checks.

Fellow Police Commissioner Darrell Brooks agreed. 

He said he was thinking about ​“accountability, fairness, and equity” when he voted for a 16-day suspension. 

“It didn’t just start and end with Sgt. Sanders. Unfortunately, we’ve missed an opportunity to really strengthen the rank and file in terms of supervision and leadership and accountability.” 

He called on the department to review this case carefully to make sure that the same types of mistakes, ​“from the highest ranking to the lowest ranking,” don’t happen again.

Commissioner Chair Evelise Ribeiro and Commissioner Tracey Meares, meanwhile, pointed their public remarks towards how five years’ worth of data on comparable police disciplinary matters simply did not bear out the chief’s recommendation for a six-month suspension. A 16-day suspension was much more in line with past precedent.

Meares said this case offered an opportunity ​“to emphasize the importance of, when thinking about accountability for violations of agency policies and procedures, that those recommendations be considered in the context of other past recommendations that have been carried out.”

“We don’t take the charges lightly,” Ribeiro said. And the commissioners also wanted to take a look at not just the facts in this particular case, but also ​“the discipline history in the past.” That doesn’t mean that what’s done in the past should always be done in the future, but it is a helpful guide.

After the meeting, Acting Chief Dominguez told the Independent that she is ​“disappointed” in the commissioners’ decision to go with 16 days rather than six months. ​“I do believe it was an egregious failure to supervise,” she said, and warranted the stricter discipline.

Asked about taking this matter as a teachable moment, she said the department always uses cases that result in discipline to learn how to ​“do better and to become better. Regardless of the length of the discipline, that is how we proceed, making sure that the individuals involved have the training they need. … Every moment is teachable.”