Shelton police review video of domestic violence suspect’s arrest
SHELTON — Police are reviewing an incident in which five officers arrested a man on domestic violence charges last month.
A video depicting a portion of the incident and shared on social media shows several Shelton cops subduing 27-year-old Gordon Cole on Dec. 29. At least five officers try to handcuff him, and one pushes Cole’s head down into a sofa.
At one point, a woman screams “Get off his head!” before noting the presence of an infant child as Cole continues to struggle.
Shelton Police on Friday released more than 90 minutes of bodyworn camera video depicting the incident from the moment officers approached the residence, heard yelling from inside, and knocked on the door to the struggle depicted in the video posted to social media.
In a prepared statement, Shelton Police said that about 9:15 p.m. Dec. 29, they received an anonymous call saying the alleged victim in the case sent a code via text message indicating they needed help.
“The caller stated every time the cops go there the male makes the victim be quiet,” Lt. Robert Kozlowsky said. “The caller reiterated that their identity cannot be revealed because the male would come after their house and do anything to their family. The caller stated that the male constantly flips out, throws things, and hits the victim. The dispatcher asked the caller about any weapons and was told that the victim will hide knives if the male starts flipping out.”
Cole, who was sentenced to serve more than six years in prison for shooting a Derby man during a 2013 robbery in Ansonia, was charged with assaulting a police officer, risk of injury to a child, seven counts of violating a protective order, interfering with police, breach of peace, and disorderly conduct in connection to the Dec. 29 incident.
It was not immediately clear how much time he served in connection with the 2013 incident.
During a hearing in court last week, Cole’s lawyer said the video shared on social media shows her client “being suffocated,” and asked for police body camera footage of the incident so she could review it.
Activists have echoed the call, and had planned a protest Saturday to draw attention to the case.
“No matter what this man’s former record is…nobody deserves to be treated like that,” said Cornell Lewis, a longtime activist and leader of the Self-Defense Brigade, whose confrontational tactics have drawn criticism.
The incident is being reviewed, according to police.
“All use of force incidents are reviewed pursuant to department policy,” Kozlowsky said.
One former Connecticut cop said that the video shared on social media, while unpleasant to watch, does not in and of itself depict officers crossing the line.
“I would definitely say that looking from what we can see from the video, there’s no obvious excessive use of force or police brutality,” said Lawrence Hunter, a former Waterbury police captain who once headed the department’s internal affairs division and has since written a book calling for criminal justice reforms.
The footage released Friday shows Cole, who said he had just gotten to the residence recently, initially block officers from entering. He appears to be edgy, and comments on the presence of barking dogs and his infant child, who he tells officers was up all night teething.
After about 10 minutes, more officers arrive, and some appear to be talking about whether Cole had violated a partial protective order that was in place. One notes they heard him curse loudly prior to knocking on the door, and Cole disputes the characterization.
“At this point, you’re going to have to come with us,” one officer says.
“What did I do?” Cole replies, while holding a child. “I just told you I wasn’t arguing.”
The officers tell him to put the child down repeatedly. “You don’t want to bring your kid into this,” one tells him.
About 20 minutes after cops arrive, Cole gives the child to another person and says “How we doing this, bro? How we doing it?”
After an officer reaches out to Cole’s arm, and Cole says “Don’t touch me,” another says, “We’re going to make tonight very rememorable.” The situation deteriorates from there — Cole yells “Let’s make it rememorable!” and that he’s being arrested for no reason. Officers surround him, while telling him to relax. As he continues to argue, they converge on Cole and detain him by forcing him onto the sofa and then to the floor. He continues arguing after being handcuffed.
The video also shows officers discussing the incident afterward.
A sergeant appears to say he would have preferred to have taken Cole into custody just to remove him from the situation and then have him released on a low bond.
“I would have been inclined to just do a protective order (violation) and put a low bond on him to get him out, but after that, we’re stuck,” the officer says, appearing to say he didn’t realize how close Cole’s child was — or how difficult it would be to detain him.
The December incident was at least Cole’s 12th arrest since his release from prison in the shooting, including a probation violation charge in connection to his prior convictions, according to court records.
Cole appeared in Milford Superior Court last week, where a prosecutor asked Judge Peter Brown to raise bonds he had already posted in the pending cases — or sentence him to “significant” jail time, noting he had taken a plea deal to resolve the charges calling for him to serve up to seven years behind bars if he didn’t successfully complete a program for men convicted of domestic violence offenses and stay out of trouble.
“Mr. Cole created a situation where he refused to be handcuffed in his home,” Assistant State’s Attorney Alanna Paul said. “He was flailing around, trying to kick officers.”
The prosecutor said Cole has been recalcitrant despite being given chance after chance to do better. “He has consistently violated these protective orders and he consistently refuses to take any accountability or responsibility for his actions,” Paul said.
Cole’s lawyer, Benita Lee, noted during last week’s hearing that her client had “not been arrested or in trouble for a year” and had nearly completed a program for men arrested on domestic violence charges.
“Mr. Cole has complied with his probation officer. He has participated in the program,” Lee said. “He’s actually been doing well.”
She asked the judge to hold off on any decisions before she could review body cam footage.
The judge appeared to be ready to sentence Cole, saying that raising his bonds would “just be a Band-Aid, frankly.”
“Mr. Cole’s been given every opportunity to do what the court indicated, ordered that he would do,” Brown said. “And despite some effort to follow the rules, obviously, at the end of December he wasn’t able to do that.”
After Lee asked for more time to investigate, calling what she had seen on the video of Cole’s arrest “disturbing,” the judge instead continued the case to a Feb. 16 remote hearing – after raising Cole’s bonds from a total of $68,000 to $590,000.
Hunter, the former Waterbury cop, said it’s difficult to draw conclusions from one clip.
“What we see is just a looped, edited video that shows one side of the story,” he said. “I don’t see any punches being thrown. I just see the officers trying to get this guy’s hands behind his back. I know that people don’t like to see these types of videos, but we have to remember there was an incident before (what is depicted in the video).”