Connecticut trooper acquitted in shooting death of Black college student following chase

(AP) — A white Connecticut state police trooper was acquitted of all charges Friday in the death of Mubarak Soulemane, a 19-year-old community college student with mental illness who was shot as he sat behind the wheel of a stolen car holding a kitchen knife.

Trooper Brian North, 33, could have faced up to 40 years in prison if he had been convicted of first-degree manslaughter in the Jan. 15, 2020, shooting, which the state's inspector general said should not have happened because North and other officers were not in imminent danger. But the six-person jury in Milford acquitted him on that charge and two lesser counts: second-degree manslaughter and negligent homicide.

North showed little emotion as the verdicts were read. Afterward, he shook hands with his lawyers and hugged the head of the state police union, Andrew Matthews. North didn't comment while leaving court, but his lead attorney, Frank Riccio II, said the trooper is still shaken by the shooting.

“This is not something that he will ever live down, because it was a very traumatic experience,” Riccio said. “The verdict is obviously favorable for him, but it doesn’t change what happened on Jan. 15.”

Relatives and friends of Soulemane, including his mother and sister, declined to comment while leaving the courthouse. But Mark Arons, a lawyer for the family, said they were devastated by the verdicts.

“We have questions about whether justice was fully done and received here,” Arons said. “The trooper gets to live his life and Mubarak’s never coming back."

He said the verdict marked another tragedy for the family, but that it wouldn't affect the family's lawsuit against North and the other officers at the scene that day.

"They’ve had to relive through the trial all the horrific events that unfolded that terrible afternoon, early evening. And then to hear the acquittal on all the three counts, it’s a tragic loss all over again.”

North is white and Soulemane was Black. The case caught the attention of the NAACP and the Rev. Al Sharpton, but race was not raised as a factor in the shooting during the trial.

On the day of the shooting, North fired his handgun seven times at close range into the stolen car's door after Soulemane led police on a high-speed chase through several towns on Interstate 95. The shooting happened less than a minute after the chase ended in West Haven as police surrounded the car after it crashed into another vehicle.

North testified that he fired when Soulemane pulled out a 9-inch knife and made a threatening movement. North said he believed Soulemane posed a danger to police officers who were on the other side of the car and had just broken the passenger door window.

But Inspector General Robert Devlin, who investigates all police uses of deadly force in the state, said no officers were in danger because the stolen car was boxed in and couldn’t go anywhere. He said officers made no attempt to de-escalate the situation.

The state police union, meanwhile, criticized Devlin for charging North, saying he had been forced to make a split-second decision and believed he was protecting other officers.

Devlin issued a statement after the trial, saying that although his office is disappointed by the verdict, it respects the jury’s decision.

Soulemane struggled with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to his family. His mother, sister and girlfriend, who testified at the trial, said in the days leading up to the shooting, Soulemane’s mental health problems were worsening and he was acting paranoid and erratically — behavior he previously displayed when he went off his medications.

Police said the series of events on the day of Soulemane's death began when he displayed a knife at an AT&T store in Norwalk and unsuccessfully tried to steal a cellphone. Police said he then slapped a Lyft driver and drove off in the driver’s car after the driver got out, leading police on a 30-mile (48-kilometer) chase from Norwalk to West Haven during the afternoon rush hour.

Norwalk officers ended their pursuit before it reached I-95 because of the high speed and heavy traffic, and the fact that no violent crime had occurred. State police continued the pursuit, though, after receiving false information that the car theft was a carjacking, according to trial testimony. State troopers said Soulemane struck their cruisers during the chase.

The pursuit ended when Soulemane left the highway, struck a civilian’s car and was boxed in by troopers and local police in West Haven. Police said the officers ordered him out of the car, but he didn't obey.

State police body camera videos show that a West Haven officer smashed the passenger door window of the stolen vehicle before another trooper, Joshua Jackson, shot Soulemane with a Taser through the window, though it had no effect on Soulemane, who was wearing a heavy coat.

North told jurors that he fired his gun because he thought the West Haven officer — whom he couldn't see — had leaned in through the smashed window and was in danger from Soulemane, who made a motion to the passenger side of the car while holding the knife.

“I was afraid that he was going to be stabbed in the face or the neck, which obviously can be a fatal injury,” North testified.

North said he still thinks about the shooting every day and loses sleep over it. He said it was difficult to live with, given that he became a trooper to try to help people.

The inspector general questioned North about why he decided to shoot. noting that the officers had the car boxed in, the car’s windows were up and Soulemane was sitting in the driver’s seat not moving when they ran up to the car.

The officers, Devlin suggested, could have tried to talk to Soulemane on their cruiser PA systems instead of rushing to the car and escalating things. Soulemane was shot about 35 seconds after North got out of his cruiser.

“In fact, now that you’ve seen all the videos and heard the testimony of those officers, in fact there was no danger to anybody outside the car ... correct?” Devlin asked North.

“Not from what I could see now and after hearing testimony. But what I’m perceiving at the time is that there was danger,” North said.

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By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press

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