HARTFORD, Conn. — The State's Attorney in New Haven determined the fatal Jan. 6 officer-involved shooting of a man in Hartford during a law enforcement investigation was justified, a report released Monday said.
Patrick Griffin, the State's Attorney from New Haven, released his findings into the use of deadly force investigation of the shooting death of Benicio Vasquez, who was killed after he fired at officers chasing him.
On the morning of Jan. 6, a police task force that included local law enforcement and federal agents that Brandon Spence, 33, who had an outstanding federal arrest warrant for parole violation was on Enfield Street in Hartford. He was also wanted for a shooting in Hartford a week earlier.
According to Griffin's report, police observed three men making what they believed to be drug transactions near a white Jeep Gladiator and a tan Infiniti. As the officers converged on the scene, blocking the Jeep and Infiniti, Spence moved to flee but was taken into custody. Another man - identified as Samuel Colbert - raised his hand as police approached.
Vasquez, who was at the scene, got in the passenger side of the Jeep and moved behind the wheel, the report says.
When officers drew their weapons, Vasquez allegedly put the vehicle in gear and attempted to drive away - hitting the police vehicles at the scene. Officers attempted to open the vehicle's door in an effort to Vasquez out of the SUV.
According to the report, Vasquez nearly struck one of the officers on the sidewalk.
Vazquez then drove erratically down Enfield Street, according to the report. He narrowly missed another vehicle driven by a member of law enforcement, and then hit an FBI Chevrolet Tahoe, sending it crashing into a telephone pole.
Vasquez then got out of the Jeep, pretended he was surrendering to police before taking off in the other direction with his hands in a pouch he was wearing, the report says.
Officers yelled at Vasquez to drop the weapon and to show them his hands.
Vasquez ran up a driveway and pulled out a gun, pointing it in the direction of the officers who were about a yard away and fired.
The officers - later identified as Special Agent Frederick Reeder and New Britain Det. Christopher Kiely - fired on Vasquez, mortally wounding him. He was treated at the scene and taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The officers were not injured but were taken to the hospital. Later that day, Reeder found that one of the rounds believed to have been fired by Vasquez had struck his boot sole.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Kiely initially believed he had been shot as well, but later investigation showed that he had not been hit, according to the report.
Police later found drugs and money on Vasquez. They also found drugs and a knife in the Jeep, which was a rental from Avis.
According to Griffin's report, no law enforcement personnel who was directly involved in the shooting was wearing body cameras at the time. The chain of events was reconstructed using video from witnesses at the time of the shooting, witness accounts, security footage from nearby buildings and recordings from Hartford's shot spotter system.
Investigators later determined that 10 rounds were fired during the incident - two from Kiely's gun, seven from Reeder's weapon and one from Vasquez's gun.
Kiely was one of the officers in a December 17, 2017 incident where one person died and two others were wounded. The Fairfield State's Attorney's office determined that the use of deadly force was justified in that case.
In addition to drugs being found in his system, Vasquez's behavior was described by family members as being "depressed."
According to Griffin's report, he determined that the use of deadly force in this incident was justified.
"When they made the split-second decision to use deadly force, SA Reeder and TFO Kiely did so with the subjective belief that, if they did not, Vasquez would kill or injure them or the other members of the arrest team following closely behind them," he said in the report.
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