The public might get to read Hamden Police Officer Devin Eaton’s own words describing his shooting at two unarmed people in New Haven’s Newhallville neighborhood.
Eaton and Yale Officer Terrance Pollock fired 16 bullets at Paul Witherspoon and Stephanie Washington in the early hours of April 16, 2019, on Argyle Street near Dixwell Avenue. Eaton fired 13 of the bullets.
He subsequently sat for an interview about the incident as part of a Hamden police internal investigation. (Separately, the state has brought criminal charges against Eaton in connection with the incident.)
A court sealed a transcript of Eaton’s interview. The Connecticut ACLU went to court to seek having the transcript made public (as part of a case called United Public Service employees Union, Cops Local 062 v. Town of Hamden and Hamden Board of Police Commissioners). The town’s police union and commission sought to keep the transcript sealed, in part arguing that a release could taint a jury pool.
On March 10, Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue ordered the transcript released.
The union now has 10 days to appeal the ruling. The ACLU would receive the transcript on March 22 at the earliest; it said it will immediately make it public.
“People have a right to expect and demand information about what the government is doing, including when the government actor in question is a police employee,” ACLU Connecticut Legal Director Dan Barrett, the attorney on the case, stated in a release. “The court’s decision to unseal this transcript is a victory for government transparency and an important acknowledgment that the public has a valid, vested interest in accessing documents about police behavior.”
Since the interview will be made a part of public record in Court, what is the harm in the public reading the interview beforehand? It's all going to come out anyway, a day or two or a month or two earlier can not jeopardize the integrity of the jury pool.