Report: Cop ‘justified’ in using deadly force
ANSONIA — Danbury State’s Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky III made several recommendations that might prevent police shootings of mentally and psychologically challenged individuals in his report clearing an Ansonia police officer of wrongdoing.
The 18-page report released Friday afternoon concluded Ansonia Police Officer Brendon Nelson did not violate any law when shooting Michael Gregory, a 30-year-old Bridgeport man who disregarded repeated requests to drop a knife before charging at three officers with it.
Family members told Sedensky that Gregory suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome, manic depression and a bipolar disorder but was not taking his medication, according to the report. Instead, his girlfriend said, he had been drinking heavily, was argumentative and pushed, choked and slapped her before she went to the police station seeking help on Jan. 2, 2020. An autopsy determined Gregory’s blood alcohol level was “more than three times the legal limit for driving a car.”
The woman also admitted she allowed Gregory to stay with her and their son in direct violation of a no-contact restraining order following his Nov. 16, 2019, arrest as a result of a domestic dispute with her, the report said.
Still, Sedensky’s report noted, Gregory’s death was “at least the third officer-involved shooting” he investigated which involved a deceased person with mental health issues.
“This state’s attorney is reluctant to make observations that do not go to his decision and yet when similar situations keep arising, it calls for an exception,” he wrote.
As a result, he recommend local police and the state legislature consider instituting the following:
⏩ Require 911 operators and police dispatchers to ask callers if there is any mental health background of which the responding officers should be aware;
⏩ Police departments implement protocols and policies when responding to situations where an individual, especially those who are armed, suffers from a mental illness;
⏩ Officers be held harmless by statute if they make the decision in the field to allow a person to remain alone or to be handled by a social worker, when that person later harms themselves or the social worker. However, he said, that recommendation would not apply when a third party’s safety is at risk.
In accordance with a set of state laws outlining the process, state’s attorneys from another jurisdiction than the department involved are asked to review the case and determine whether the officer or officers who fired during the incident were justified in using deadly physical force.
Nelson, an eight-year member of the department, has never had a complaint filed against him, according to the investigation conducted by Sedensky, State Police Detective Rachel Van Ness and the State Police Western District Major Crime Squad. He also was up to date with training on the use of force, taser, pistols and pepper spray.
Gregory had prior arrests including one involving a Nov. 16, 2019, domestic disturbance with the same woman where a no-contact restraining order was issued two days later.
Three officers — Sgt. Christopher Flynn, Officer Wojciech Podgorski and Nelson — were sent to 81 Myrtle Ave. about 7:35 p.m. on Jan. 2 after the woman went to the police station. After spending several minutes knocking on the door, the officers opened it and announced their presence in the home, according to body camera footage. In the footage, time and again during a brief — and fatal — confrontation with police, Gregory told officers “you’re going to have to shoot me.”
Gregory emerged from a room in the home armed with what appears to be a knife and advanced toward the officers, even after a Taser was deployed. As the three officers asked him to calm down and drop a knife, Gregory repeatedly replied, “You’re going to have to shoot me!” Three gunshots can be heard on the body camera footage of the confrontation released by state police. Both the woman and Victoria Mitchell, Gregory’s mother, said they believe police escalated the situation by demanding he come to them even though there was no one else in the house, according to the investigative report.
Sedensky’s report discloses that Gregory had attempted suicide in the past, as recently as a week earlier. His report further claims: “Her friend indicated that Mr. Gregory doesn’t want to be alive and wants to be able to blame his death on someone else.”
The report said Nelson “was justified based upon his reasonable belief that the use of such force was necessary to defend himself and others. As such, the use of deadly force was appropriate and no further action will be taken by the Division of Criminal Justice.”