The Cops Didn’t Shoot

Officers Brandon Way and Donald White had to make an instant decision — to shoot or not to shoot — in a dark parking lot.

Two bits of advance work helped them keep everyone safe without pulling a trigger: Way knew his way around the parking lot. And Officer David Santiago and his partner knew a man across town who watches his block — and likes to talk football.

The drama unfolded Tuesday night, when officers confronted an uncooperative suspected gunman in the midst of a crowd in the lot of a Quinnipiac Avenue housing complex.

It could have turned into an officer-involved shooting. Or an officer getting shot. Or any manner of violent or controversial encounter.

Instead, it ended with no one getting hurt, and two arrests.

As told in police reports and interviews with officers involved, this became a story of how everyday policing that doesn’t involve arresting people or chasing crimes can pay off later in life-or-death moments.

That’s how Interim Police Chief Otoniel Reyes characterized it.

Reyes noted that sometimes police officers need to fire their weapons. But ​“obviously” that’s not what they hope to do, he said.

“I’m proud of the way the officers handled this situation,” Reyes said. ​“The nontraditional work they do every day made it possible to have a positive outcome.”

Hoops Talk

The saga began at 9:18 p.m. when Shotspotter, the department’s computerized detection system, reported the firing of six bullets by the junction of Huntington and Shepard Streets in Newhallville.

At the time, Officers Santiago (pictured) and Nicholas Pates were nearby at Shelton Avenue and Ivy Street collecting the driver’s license and registration of a driver they’d pulled over for a traffic violation. They heard the shots-fired report on the radio. So they handed back the paperwork to the driver — who got a free pass — and hopped in their cruiser to head over.

“You’ve got to prioritize,” Santiago said: It’s ​“more important to arrive on scene” at a shooting to ​“preserve evidence and make sure nobody got hurt.”

A U‑turn and a couple of right and left turns later, they arrived at Huntington and Shepard. ​“It was a ghost town,” Santiago recalled: Nobody around, no one lying on the ground. They did see shell casings on the street.

Fellow patrol officers Monique Moore and Jawan Haddock arrived too. The officers blocked off the street with yellow tape and fanned out, looking for witnesses.

Santiago has patrolled Newhallville since graduating from the training academy in 2014. In that time, he and the other officers have made a point of stopping to strike up conversations with people and get to know them.

Moore and Pates ran into an older man the district cops often run into as he works on his property. ​“He’s a great guy. Every time we see him, if we have time, we talk,” Santiago said. Sometimes they talk football. Often they talk about activity the man notices on the block.

It turned out the man was in a car parked by the intersection when the shots broke out. He saw a ​“dark SUV” leaving the scene. He took down the license plate — and now provided it to the officers.

Pates ran the plate. The address of the car’s owner came back as 1134 Quinnipiac Ave. across town. Santiago radioed in the information. And the search was on.

“1 Way In, 1 Way Out”

Officers White and Way (pictured) were inside the East Shore police substation when they heard the address come over the radio.

It had already been a busy B shift for the two officers, who like Santiago graduated from the police academy in 2014. They often find themselves paired up on calls: White patrols Fair Haven in District 8, Way the Heights in adjoining District 9. ​“Brother districts,” as they put it. ​“We’re short staffed, so we work close together,” White said. They have come to know each other’s moves well enough to communicate with few words, which turned out to come in handy twice on Tuesday.

The two officers were working Tuesdays with two rookies, officers in training (OITs). They had all ended up on Middletown Avenue by I‑91 earlier in the shift responding to a call about a disturbed man seeking medical help. The man approached them brandishing a knife and, at first, ignored orders to drop it and turn around. A ​“suicide by cop” situation was emerging. The officers — coordinating their steps largely without words, after having confronted similar situations together in the past — drew weapons and managed to get the man to drop the knife. Then the man brandished a second knife. They managed to convince him to drop that one and to tackle him, after which point he was taken to the hospital for evaluation.

Way and White were debriefing their OITs on that encounter when the 1134 Quinnipiac message interrupted them. They headed right over, figuring the driver might have headed home.

Way knew the address well. It’s the housing authority’s Essex Townhouses complex. He had spent time walking the complex, attending block parties, meeting people. Along the way, he developed a mental map of the complex’s layout.

The four cops hopped into two cruisers. Way advised that they not park in the complex’s lot. He knew it has a narrow ​“one way in/one way out” driveway. That meant that if they were to encounter in a dangerous situation, their cars could be trapped.

So they parked 100 feet or so from the entrance. They did not activate their lights. It was dark out; the lot was dimly lit. The driver of the red SUV — a Nissan Rogue — happened to arrive just then, pass them, pull into the lot.

The driver did not appear to notice the officers, who followed into the driveway as the Rogue stopped.

“That’s the plate,” White told Way after getting a good look.

“We have the car in the parking lot of 1134 Quinnipiac Ave.,” Way radioed in to dispatch.

As they approached the Rogue, the driver started it back up. ​“Believing this was the operator of the vehicle and the suspect in the shots fired incident, officers separated to gain a better position,” the officers later wrote in a report.

The officers drew their weapons. They activated the flashlights on their guns and pointed them at the SUV. The driver stopped again after traveling a couple of feet.

He emerged from the car and faced Way, White, and their two OITs. The officers advised the rookies that a felony arrest loomed.

“Hands up,” the officers commanded the driver. ​“Turn around. Walk backwards toward us.” They learned in training that the latter command theoretically gives them extra moments to react should the person pull out a gun.

The driver did not turn around. The officers drew their guns.

By this time tenants were coming out of the apartments. Fifteen or so approached the scene.

“You have no reason to be here!” they called out to the cops.

“You have no reason to be pointing guns at people!”

The officers said they stayed focused on ​“the main objective”— stopping the driver and avoiding injuries. It’s important not to get rattled, to understand onlookers don’t always have immediate information to understand what’s happening, Way said.

The driver put his hands behind his back. That set off an alarm for White and Way: They were looking at someone suspected of having a gun, of having just fired shots in Newhallville. The driver was disobeying their orders and reaching for something. Was he reaching to pull the gun on them? Was he reaching to conceal it?

They knew that either way, they needed to act. With caution. Other officers had arrived, including district patrol Officer Martha Alves.

A woman (who would turn out to be the driver’s mother) emerged from the apartment complex. The driver walked toward her. They exchanged an object that wasn’t visible from a distance.

White put his gun back in his holster. He decided he needed to get the gun before the woman had a chance to take it, bring it inside, and hide it. The officer ran forward; he was ​“close enough to go hands on” without using his gun, knowing he had backup nearby.

The officers ordered the woman to back away. Instead, they said, she came closer.

White rushed at the driver. He first grabbed his hands. No gun. He slapped the man’s pants. No gun.

Rushing in from another angle, Officer Alves grabbed and handcuffed the woman — who then dropped an object on the ground.

“75,” Alves, who just graduated from the police academy three months ago, called to the other officers, citing the police code for firearms.

Alves stepped on the gun so no one else could grab it. It was a black and silver Walther pistol.

“That Was Me”

The officers placed the driver and his mom in separate cars. The scene settled down. The officers said they heeded requests from a relative to check in with the mother and to bring the two water as they sat in the hot cruisers.

Then began the process of collecting evidence. Detectives later interviewed the driver at police headquarters. According to a report by Detective Daniel Conklin, the man acknowledged having marijuana and a gun on him. ​“He stated that the gun fell from his possession,” he said. He claimed he had ​“found it in the back of a car” weeks earlier in Fair Haven. He denied firing the gun earlier that evening in Newhallville.

“That was me in the Ville,” he told detectives at the interview’s close, then ​“reiterated that he did not shoot anyone or fire a gun that night,” according to Conklin’s report.

Police charged the driver, who’s 18, with three weapons charges, interfering with a police officer, and narcotics offenses. The police stated that they confiscated 21 bags of crack from him along with cash and a bag of weed.

The mother was charged with carrying a pistol without a permit, theft of a firearm, and interfering.

Police are still investigating the shots fired in Newhallville.

After leaving the scene, White and Way had a long night ahead of report writing — and debriefing their OITs on the second potentially harrowing encounter of the shift.

Reflecting on the incident in an interview Thursday at 1 Union Ave., the officers identified the moment that could have prompted the split-second decision to shoot or not to shoot: When the driver hopped out of the car, disobeyed orders to show his hands, and reached behind his back.

White’s quick action to holster his weapon and grab the man made the question moot. But so did the decision to approach the scene on foot, unnoticed at first, without getting trapped in their vehicles in the lot — thanks to Way’s knowledge of the physical layout.

And of course the Newhallville cops’ relationship with the witness provided crucial information that brought them to the scene in the first place. (The police asked to keep the witness’s name out of this story, to protect his safety.)

It pays off, it seems, to include getting to know a community as part of the job of policing.

Read other installments in the Independent’s ​“Cop of the Week” series: 

• Shafiq Abdussabur
• Yessennia Agosto
• Craig Alston & Billy White Jr.
• Joseph Aurora
• James Baker
• Lloyd Barrett
• Pat Bengston & Mike Valente
• Elsa Berrios
• Manmeet Bhagtana (Colon)
• Paul Bicki
• Paul Bicki (2)
• Sheree Biros
• Bitang
• Scott Branfuhr
• Bridget Brosnahan
• Craig Burnett & Orlando Crespo
• Keron Bryce and Steve McMorris
• Keron Bryce and Osvaldo Garcia
• Keron Bryce and Osvaldo Garcia (2)
• Dennis Burgh
• Anthony Campbell
• Darryl Cargill & Matt Wynne
• Elizabeth Chomka & Becky Fowler
• Rob Clark & Joe Roberts
• Sydney Collier
• Carlos Conceicao
• Carlos Conceicao (2)
• Carlos Conceicao and Josh Kyle
• David Coppola
• Mike Criscuolo
• Natalie Crosby
• Steve Cunningham and Timothy Janus
• Chad Curry
• Gregory Dash
• Roy Davis
• Joe Dease
• Milton DeJesus
• Milton DeJesus (2)
• Rose Dell
• Brian Donnelly
• Renee Dominguez, Leonardo Soto, & Mary Helland
• Anthony Duff
• Robert DuPont
• Robert DuPont and Rose Dell
• Eric Eisenhard & Jasmine Sanders
• Jeremie Elliott and Scott Shumway
• Jeremie Elliott (2)
• Jose Escobar Sr.
• Bertram Ettienne
• Bertram Ettienne (2)
• Martin Feliciano & Lou DeCrescenzo
• Paul Finch
• Jeffrey Fletcher
• Renee Forte
• Marco Francia
• Michael Fumiatti
• Michael Fumiatti (2)
• William Gargone
• William Gargone (2)
• William Gargone & Mike Torre
• Derek Gartner
• Derek Gartner & Ryan Macuirzynski
• Tom Glynn & Matt Williams
• Jon Haddad & Daniela Rodriguez
• Michael Haines
• Michael Haines & Brendan Borer
• Michael Haines & Brendan Borer (2)
• Dan Hartnett
• Ray Hassett
• Robert Hayden
• Patricia Helliger
• Robin Higgins
• Ronnell Higgins
• William Hurley & Eddie Morrone
• Derek Huelsman
• Racheal Inconiglios
• Juan Ingles
• Bleck Joseph and Marco Correa
• Shayna Kendall
• Shayna Kendall (2)
• Paul Kenney
• Hilda Kilpatrick
• Herb Johnson
• John Kaczor & Alex Morgillo
• Jillian Knox
• Peter Krause
• Peter Krause (2)
• Amanda Leyda
• Rob Levy
• Kyle Listro & Joseph Perrotti
• Anthony Maio
• Dana Martin
• Reggie McGlotten
• Steve McMorris
• Juan Monzon
• Monique Moore and David Santiago
• Matt Myers
• Carlos and Tiffany Ortiz
• Tiffany Ortiz
• Doug Pearse and Brian Jackson
• Chris Perrone
• Joseph Perrotti
• Joseph Perrotti & Gregory Dash
• Ron Perry
• Joe Pettola
• Diego Quintero and Elvin Rivera
• Ryan Przybylski
• Stephanie Redding
• Tony Reyes
• David Rivera
• Luis & David Rivera
• Luis Rivera (2)
• Salvador Rodriguez
• Salvador Rodriguez (2)
• Brett Runlett
• David Runlett
• Betsy Segui & Manmeet Colon
• Allen Smith
• Marcus Tavares
• Martin Tchakirides
• David Totino
• Stephan Torquati
• Gene Trotman Jr.
* Elisa Tuozzoli
• Kelly Turner
• Lars Vallin (& Xander)
• Dave Vega & Rafael Ramirez
• Earl Reed
• Daophet Sangxayarath & Jessee Buccaro
• Herb Sharp
• Matt Stevens and Jocelyn Lavandier
• Jessica Stone
• Jessica Stone & Mike DeFonzo
• Arpad Tolnay
• Mike Torre & Ray Saracco
• John Velleca
• Manuella Vensel
• Holly Wasilewski
• Holly Wasilewski (2)
• Alan Wenk
• Stephanija VanWilgen
• Elizabeth White & Allyn Wright
• Matt Williams
• Michael Wuchek
• Michael Wuchek (2)
• David Zannelli
• Cailtin Zerella
• Caitlin Zerella (2)
• Caitlin Zerella, Derek Huelsman, David Diaz, Derek Werner, Nicholas Katz, and Paul Mandel
• David Zaweski