Sam Gurwitt Photo
Rodney Williams, uncle of Paul Witherspoon, in addresses Hamden council.
Citizens from Hamden, New Haven, and around the area gave the Hamden Legislative Council a clear demand Monday night: fund an independent investigation into last week’s police shooting of Stephanie Washington and Paul Witherspoon.
The council listened for almost five hours in the packed Legislative Council chamber as some 50 people got up to give their recommendations, demands, and stories. Instead of holding a deliberation session on the police department budget, the council turned the evening into a listening session.
Last Tuesday, Hamden Police Officer Devin Eaton and Yale Police Officer Terrance Pollock opened fire on a parked Honda Civic in Newhallville in which sat two unarmed people, Paul Witherspoon and Stephanie Washington. At least one of the at least 16 bullets fired hit Washington, 22, in the torso; she went to the hospital with torso and facial injuries.
The case is currently under investigation by the state attorney’s office and state police. Speakers Monday night asked that instead of waiting for the results of the state’s investigation, which they said might be biased and fail to deliver justice for Washington and Witherspoon, the council should authorize money to hire an independent investigator.
“The police cannot police the police,” said New Haven Hill Alder Ron Hurt, who is also a preacher at Deliverance Temple. Hurt, like other speakers, demanded that the council allocate at least $50,000 to hiring an investigator or arbiter.
New Haven Alder Ron Hurt.
“Fifty thousand dollars is a small price to pay because black lives matter,” said the Rev. Scott Marks of New Haven. Marks said that when he’s driving up Dixwell Avenue and he gets to the Hamden line, the first thing he thinks about is the police. He said the Hamden police tend to racially profile citizens, a practice he traced back to the redlining of neighborhoods in the 1930s.
“People find money when it’s important. This is important to survival and the relationship of Hamden and New Haven,” said the Rev. Boise Kimber of First Calvary Baptist Church.
“I come here to address you tonight with 233 years of injustice that’s happened here,” he said.
“I firmly believe that budgets are moral documents,” said Spring Glen Church Rev. Jack Perkins Davidson. He said that the council had heard what community members had to say, and that he hoped they would reflect it in their decisions about how to spend money.
New Haven Activist Kerry Ellington said that she hopes an independent investigation will be able to report to the community what happened, and that it should start immediately. She said that she also believes that Hamden’s Police Commission, which has the power to suspend an officer, should not be silent, as it has been up until this point. (The Hamden officer involved, Devin Eaton, is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the state investigation.)
Mayor Curt Leng talks to Kerry Ellington.
Council members appeared open to the idea, though they said they did not know exactly how it would work.
“I have no issue with it. However, it has to be done correctly whereby we can compel cooperation from the various entities,” said District 8 Rep. Jim Pascarella. He explained that the council does not have subpoena power, meaning the council cannot force anyone to testify before an investigator. All oversight over the police department, he said, is the responsibility of the Police Commission, which has power over personnel decisions in the department.
“Procedurally there are some complications we’d have to figure out,” said Council President Mick McGarry.
Mayor Curt Leng said that the town is ready to conduct its own investigation, pending the outcome of the currently underway investigation at the state level.
“Hamden is fully ready to complete its own investigation, including potential for an independent one, depending on the outcome of the current independent state police special crime division review ongoing right now,” he said. He added that he has heard from the state that it will release the body camera footage either Tuesday or Wednesday, another demand of the speakers at Monday’s council meeting.
Speakers at the hearing also demanded that Leng and Acting Police Chief John Cappiello fire Officer Eaton, that the town release the body camera footage and that the town abandon its plans to put two school resource officers in the town’s elementary schools.
Roxana Walker-Canton, David Canton, and James Outlaw wait to speak.
The council is scheduled to meet again on April 30 to discuss the police department’s budget, then hold its next regular meeting on May 6.
At Monday night’s meeting, activists vowed to return to hold the council accountable.
“We will be here May 6 with the house packed to make sure you pass this resolution,” Ellington vowed.
Previous coverage of this case:
• Hamden Cop Shoots Woman In Newhallville
• Protesters Storm PD Seeking Answers In Officer-Involved Shooting; Officials Mum
• Cop Who Shot Was Trained In New Haven
• Shot-At Man Plans To File Suit; Clerk Describes Original Complaint
• Outrage Over Shooting Shuts Down Streets
• Elicker: Remove Griffin From Shooting Probe
• Post-Shooting, Focus On Suburban Cops
• Griffin Obtains Search Warrant For Shot-Up Honda; Harp Stands By Griffin
• Top Yale Cops Seek To Rebuild Trust
