Police officer charged in crash that killed local pastor pleads not guilty
MILFORD — Zachary Lockwood, the Stamford police officer charged in connection with a crash that killed a local pastor, has pleaded not guilty, the state’s judicial website shows.
Lockwood was speeding to a minor car accident last July when he struck and killed the Rev. Tommie Jackson even though he and another officer were advised by an emergency dispatcher to use a slower response, according to the warrant for his arrest.
Connecticut State Police later charged Lockwood with misconduct with a motor vehicle.
Lockwood entered the not guilty plea on Friday in state Superior Court in Milford, according to the judicial site. He was arraigned in state Superior Court in Stamford last month.
Raymond Hassett, Lockwood’s attorney, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on Friday’s proceeding.
Jackson’s family has moved to upgrade the charges against Lockwood to include second-degree manslaughter, according to a motion filed by Darnell Crosland, an attorney who is representing Jackson’s family.
Crosland has said a second-degree manslaughter charge would be more appropriate because Lockwood “acted with such reckless disregard for human life.” In an interview
Saturday, he called Lockwood’s decision to plea not guilty standard protocol.
“We’re hoping that sooner or later he pleads guilty,” Crosland said. “The family wants him to receive the statutory maximum, which is five years, because they believe he deserves more.”
Crosland said he has filed a motion objecting to holding the proceedings in Milford. The case was moved to the city to avoid potential conflicts between Stamford police officers and local prosecutors, but Crosland said he is concerned the court will not be able to hold a fair trial due to the local lack of racial diversity.
Crosland noted that U.S. Census Bureau figures show that less than two percent of Milford’s population is Black, while about 85 percent is white. He suggested the racial makeup could influence the outcome of the case, which involves a white police officer and a Black victim. Crosland has urged the court to move the case to Bridgeport.
Lockwood used a “Code 3” response — the fastest and most immediate — instead of going with the flow of traffic as he was told to do by a dispatcher while travelling to the minor car accident, the arrest warrant states.
He was traveling at about 65 miles per hour before he struck Jackson, who was trying to cross Wire Mill Road on foot after getting his mail, according to the warrant. The 24-year-old Lockwood graduated from the police academy about six months before the crash, the warrant said.
Jackson was a wellknown pastor at Rehoboth
Fellowship Church and Faith Tabernacle Church, as well as assistant director of the city’s Urban Redevelopment Commission.