Video of a standoff between New Haven police and a defiant man they struggled to detain inside of a convenience store was released to the public on Thursday, December 21.
Officials in the local police department had the body camera footage collected from the early December incident under review out of concern for how officers have been approaching arrests of a similar nature. While it was determined that officers Lindsey Nesto, Gregory Reynolds, and Kenroy Taylor didn't breach any laws or policies, they were ordered to undergo further training to work on methods of de-escalation for future encounters.
The recordings were taken inside of Whalley Food Market on Whalley Avenue and Hobart Street. That's where officers Nesto, Reynolds and Taylor were able to locate 36-year-old Rashae Jamaal King at around 9:18 p.m. on Sunday, December 3.
The police were on the lookout for King after they received calls about a man fitting his description who was creating disturbances earlier in the evening. According to those reports, they believed that King was high on PCP.
King apparently was in the process of purchasing lottery tickets when the officers arrived and asked to see his I.D. After confirming he did have identification on him; King showed an unwillingness to show it to the officers. They then began going back and forth, with King asking over and over again what did he do to bring them to him.
Eventually, the police drew their tasers and King began trying to shield himself from shock by hiding behind some of the store's displays, scrambling around, and jumping up on the counter. Attempts to bring him down with the stun gun proved ineffective because the officer handling it misfired.
King would receive a medical evaluation at the Yale-New Haven St. Raphael campus before being booked on a misdemeanor charge, and released. The officers faced no discipline.
Source: newhavenindependent.org
