A Connecticut State Police trooper is due in court Tuesday for a pre-trial hearing in connection with the 2020 shooting death of a teenager in West Haven after a chase.
Trooper Brian North was charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of 19-year-old Mubarak Soulemane after a police chase that ended in West Haven on Jan. 15, 2020 and he has pleaded not guilty.
State police union leaders said North acted objectively during a violent encounter when he was forced to make a split-second decision during dangerous and rapidly evolving circumstances.
Inspector General Robert J. Devlin Jr. released a report about the shooting that said, in part, “Stated briefly, the investigation establishes that, at the time Trooper North fired his weapon, neither he nor any other person was in imminent danger of serious injury or death from a knife attack at the hands of Soulemane. Further, any belief that persons were in such danger was not reasonable. I therefore find that North’s use of deadly force was not justified under Connecticut law."
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State police said Soulemane carjacked a vehicle in Norwalk on Jan. 15, 2020 and led police on a chase on Interstate 95 to West Haven. Troopers were able to box in the car Soulemane was driving.
State police body camera video showed a West Haven officer smashing out the passenger door window before another trooper shot Soulemane with a stun gun.
Trooper North then fired his gun through the driver's door window when Soulemane displayed a knife, state police said.
Soulemane’s family has said he was a community college student who had schizophrenia.
North was arrested on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, becoming the first police officer in more than a decade to be charged with a fatal shooting. He was placed on leave after the arrest.
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