Officers tell of chaos when teen was shot by trooper
Jury views body camera footage in Brian North’s manslaughter trial
The trial against Connecticut State Police trooper Brian North, who fatally shot a teenager in 2020 after a high-speed police pursuit and what was initially reported as a carjacking, continued Wednesday with the jury viewing police body camera and cruiser footage of the chaotic scene that led to North firing his weapon seven times.
The six jury members spent much of the third day of the trial in the Ansonia-milford Judicial District Courthouse watching and re-watching portions of the footage while multiple police at the scene, including Trooper Joshua Jackson and West Haven Officer Robert Rappa, spoke about what they were thinking during the tense moments. Mark Sinise — an inspector with the state Office of Inspector General who specializes in digital forensics and video recovery — also testified about what the footage showed.
North, 33, was charged with one count of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm after an investigation by Inspector General Robert Devlin, Jr., found the trooper’s use of deadly force was not justified when he fired seven shots at 19-year-old Mubarak Soulemane on Jan. 15, 2020.
The footage played Wednesday, some of which did not have accompanying audio, showed state police troopers pursuing Soulemane on I-95 at speeds that exceeded 90 mph. Soulemane, who lived with his mother and brother at an apartment in New Haven, left his home earlier in the day following an argument with his brother and went to an AT&T store in Norwalk, where an employee testified earlier in the week that he acted bizarre and displayed a knife before trying to steal a phone.
Soulemane — who suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and appeared to be experiencing a mental health episode, according to previous testimony — left the store in a Lyft vehicle and stole the Hyundai Sonata his driver picked him up in. Soulemane was initially pursued by Norwalk police on Route 7 before they called off the pursuit in the area of Inter
state 95. State police began pursuing the vehicle in the Bridgeport area after being incorrectly informed the occupant had been involved in a carjacking, according to previous testimony.
The video played for jurors showed troopers unsuccessfully trying to box the Sonata in during the pursuit before Soulemane pulled off the highway at 5:04 p.m. using Exit 43 in West Haven, where he struck a Chevrolet Trailblazer, allowing police to partially box him in. North, along with troopers Jackson and Ross Dalling, approached the vehicle on foot before North moved alongside the driver’s side door as members of the West Haven Police Department arrived, the video showed.
The chaotic events that followed occurred over only about a minute of time, beginning with Jackson shouting for Soulemane — who appeared unresponsive — to “get out of the car, get out of the car,” the video shows. With sirens blaring in the background under the noisy I-95 overpass, North shouts for Jackson to use his Taser as Rappa uses the trooper’s baton to smash out the passenger side window, where Jackson and Rappa were positioned, the video shows.
Sinise testified that the video shows Soulemane waking up after the passenger window was smashed, at which point Rappa yells “he’s reaching” as Soulemane pulls out a knife and raises his arm, the video shows. The Taser deployed by Jackson did not affect the 19-year-old. Only a few seconds later, North can be seen rapidly firing off seven shots through the driver’s side window, video shows.
At 5:06 p.m., North radios “shots fired,” according to the video.
During his cross-examination of multiple witnesses, North’s attorney, Bridgeport-based lawyer Frank Riccio, primarily focused on portions of the video that showed police on the passenger side of the Sonata reach for the door handle multiple times, including one instance that occurred “a moment before” the shots were fired. Riccio also hammered home his assertion that there was a “clear, unobstructed path” between Soulemane and police once the window was broken.
According to a report filed by Devlin following his lengthy investigation, North told authorities he fired his weapon believing police on the passenger side were preparing to enter the Sonata. In finding the shooting was not justified, Devlin wrote that this belief was “not reasonable” and that none of the officers or troopers at the scene were in any imminent danger.
During his testimony Wednesday, Jackson said that he never instructed Rappa to break the window, but that he also did not tell him to stop as he was doing so.
When Devlin asked Jackson why he did not tell Rappa to stop, Jackson testified that “I was preparing to enter the vehicle,” adding that the primary goal of police was to “remove and restrain” the suspect involved in the pursuit.
During Jackson’s testimony, Devlin challenged his responses and attacked the decision by police to run up to the vehicle rather than take cover or wait for a supervisor.
“What was the big rush?” Devlin asked, insisting Jackson and North could have waited for backup.
In response, Jackson said Soulemane could have had other weapons despite there being no information at that time indicating he did.
“He could have had any range of different weapons in the car,” Jackson testified.
“There was no time to make a formal plan,” the trooper said, adding that it was not feasible to engage in de-escalation techniques.
Jackson also told Devlin no single officer or trooper was in charge at the scene, but rather they collectively worked together.
“So no one was in charge?” Devlin asked several times, insisting that it’s very dangerous for police to run up on a car after a pursuit.
“Our job is inherently dangerous,” Jackson testified.
Later on in his testimony, Jackson said it appeared as though Soulemane moved in his direction after reaching for his waistband. Devlin played a portion of a body cam from the scene and asked Jackson to point out where the 19-year-moved toward him. When he did, Devlin insisted the video showed otherwise.
When Devlin asked if Soulemane moved over the center console and onto the passenger seat, Jackson conceded he did not.
During his cross-examination, Riccio would later characterize having the luxury to dissect the video upon watching and re-watching it as “Monday morning quarterbacking,” adding that “hindsight is 20⁄20.”
When Rappa took the stand Wednesday, he said his goal during the “very rapid situation” was to break the window to establish communication with Soulemane or use a non-lethal use of force, such as OC spray or a Taser, to apprehend him.
When asked if he broke the window with the intention of crawling through it, Rappa told Devlin “not at that point.”
Rappa also testified that he was worried Soulemane could have had a firearm or another type of weapon, as the only information he had at that point was that the driver of the Sonata was involved in a carjacking. Rappa was not aware of the report that the teen was armed with a knife, he testified.
During his testimony, Rappa also said he was worried Soulemane would drive away from the scene if given the opportunity, as Riccio pointed out that the vehicle rolled forward at some point after the shooting and was later found in drive. When asked by Devlin if he ever saw the car in drive, Rappa conceded that he did not.
West Haven police Sgt. Jordan Zwickler and Det. Robert Fazzino, who also responded to the scene, testified Wednesday and told the court that they were not aware of any plan made by officers or troopers at the scene. They also testified that no individual at the scene was in charge.
Jurors on Wednesday viewed bodycam video showing North and Jackson speaking with authorities after the shooting, during which time a sergeant speaking to North muted his camera mid-conversation. After this portion of the video was shown Devlin implied that North gave the sergeant a look that signaled for him to mute his camera.
In response, Riccio pointed out that the sergeant outranked North as a trooper and that he could not have possibly communicated for the ranking officer to mute his camera with a simple look.
The trial is scheduled to resume Thursday at 10 a.m. Devlin told Judge H. Gordon Hall that he expected to rest his case in the afternoon hours.
Riccio said his defense will likely not begin until Friday and was noncommittal as to whether North will take the stand.