“Basically what this crime requires is that the state prove someone, the defendant, acted with extreme indifference to human life,” Inspector General Robert Devlin said.
The trial of State Trooper Brian North is now in the hands of a six-person jury. North is accused of shooting and killing 19-year-old Mubarak Soulemane on Jan. 15, 2020 after Soulemane displayed a knife.
During North’s testimony on Friday, he said he fired at Soulemane because he believed other officers were in danger.
“What does it show after the window was broken, Soulemane looked to his right side, turned to his right side and moved toward his right side,” defense attorney Frank Riccio said.
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Earlier on that January day, Soulemane had displayed a knife inside an AT&T store in Norwalk, stole his Lyft driver's vehicle and led police on a high-speed pursuit. Troopers were able to box in Soulemane in West Haven, and an officer shattered the window.
“Within seconds, literally seconds of this window breaking, North fired seven shots at Soulemane,” Devlin said.
“As trooper North testified, ‘seven shots because that is how I was trained, because it was one brief engagement, I shot until the threat was over,'” Riccio said.
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The state called a final law enforcement expert to the stand Wednesday, who testified saying police could have taken a pause before North opened fire.
“Are you going to tell Mr.Soulemane, ‘lets stop, hold on, I got to get my boss here.’ We know that is not possible,” Riccio said.
North’s attorney Frank Riccio asked the jurors to look at the information North was provided on Jan. 15, 2020, including the information being shared between Norwalk Police Department and state troopers.
“Norwalk is where they told, via troop G dispatch, carjacking with a knife,” Riccio said.
Devlin focused the jurors' attention on body-worn camera footage, arguing if North was acting in defense of other officers, why did he not communicate that to his superiors as the footage was capturing his brief statement.
“This is a white trooper that has just shot and killed a young Black man, this is a big, big, big deal, the bosses are going to want to know, this a golden opportunity to say 'I shot because I thought a cop was in danger,'” Devlin said.
