Gov. Malloy said Monday a 17-month delay in a police report on a Waterbury murder “Doesn’t make any sense.”
The siblings of a Waterbury murder victim are frustrated they still have not received a state police report about their brother’s death nearly 17 months ago and the governor said the delay doesn’t make sense.
Authorities said Hallock Yocher, an off-duty Waterbury police officer, shot and killed James Thomas Stuart III, a doting dad, brother and son, on July 20, 2016, then shot and killed himself.
Stuart’s brother and sister paid $16 for the state police report last year, but have still not received a copy. State Police admit to a 22-month backlog in processing incoming reports and records.
During a meeting before Thanksgiving, State Police blamed the backlog on budget cuts and less than a handful of employees working in the office that processes the reports.
A state police spokesman said there are approximately 21,000 outstanding requests for reports that need to be processed.
When asked if he thinks the wait for the report is unacceptable, Gov. Dannel Malloy said it doesn’t make sense to him.
"It doesn't make any sense to me. And I think that lots of folks try to use the budget as a reason to cover what is or isn't being done and I am certainly happy to look into it," Malloy said.
Investigations
When the NBC Connecticut story first aired, a State Police spokesman told the Troubleshooters the agency's report was completed in July 2017.
"The request for this report is being processed consistent with our ability to process requests," Sgt. Eric Haglund, of Connecticut State Police, said Monday.
