MILFORD, Conn — The defense attorneys for Connecticut State Police Trooper Brian North rested their case on Tuesday after calling their final two witnesses.
Two former police officers turned national consulants, who were hired by the state years ago to analyze the actions of North, served as key witnesses for the defense.
North, 33, is facing a manslaughter charge in the shooting death of 19-year-old Mubarack Soulemane in West Haven on Jan. 15, 2020. He pleaded not guilty in June 2022.
The shooting took place after a high-speed chase, with police radio reports that Soulemane had earlier committed a carjacking and was armed with a knife.
North, Trooper Joshua Jackson and a West Haven police officer surrounded the stolen car after it crashed into another vehicle after exiting Interstate 95. The West Haven officer broke the passenger side window, and Jackson fired his Taser at Soulemane, which didn't work.
North fired his handgun seven times through the driver's window at close range when he said Soulemane pulled out a knife and turned toward the other officers.
Coming all the way from Colorado, former police officer and professor Paul Taylor was tasked years ago with looking at the actions and statements of Trooper Brian North from the night of the shooting.
"Trooper North was not shooting in response to the taser deployment. Follow up question: could it have been a startle response? Behaviorally, that tells me it's not very likely," Taylor said.
North testified that he thought 19-year-old Soulemane was lunging at the other officers on the passenger side of the car, with a knife in his hand. He said he shot Soulemane to protect the other officers.
"The things that Trooper North describes are occurring when he made the decision are supported by perception response times that we see in the studies," Taylor said.
State Inspector General Robert Devlin, who investigates all uses of deadly force by police in Connecticut, filed the manslaughter charge against North, alleging the shooting was not justified because neither North nor the other officers at the scene were in imminent danger from Soulemane. He also said officers made no attempt to de-escalate the situation.
The defense called another consultant and former police officer. Flying in from Nevada this week, James Borden also analyzed the incident.
"The use of force of in this case was appropriate based on foundation," Borden said.
Borden's focus was on North's perception at the time of the shooting and the threat he claims he and the other officers were facing. When asked if there was evidence to prove there was a threat, Borden said there was.
During his testimony on the fifth day of his trial in Milford, North said he thought the other officers were trying to get into the car and were in danger. The shooting happened less than a minute after police got out of their cruisers and approached the car.
“It’s almost like an oh my God feeling. This is happening, while the West Haven officer I’m thinking is in the window (because) I can't see him," North testified in his first public comments about the shooting. "And I was afraid that he was going to be stabbed in the face or the neck, which obviously can be a fatal injury. …. I felt that I had to act in that moment or the West Haven officer, even potentially Trooper Jackson, could have been killed.”
Under questioning by his lawyer, Frank Riccio II, North said he still thinks about the shooting every day and loses sleep over it. He said it was a difficult experience to live with, given that he became a trooper to try to help people.
“Right after shots were fired, there’s not really any training you can do to mentally prepare yourself for that," he said. "And I remember immediately after that happened, it was just a horrible feeling that comes over you, (because) you train for having that possibility because you know this is a dangerous job. But you never actually think that something like that will ever happened to you.”
In his cross-examination of North, Devlin said officers had the car boxed in, the car's windows were up and Soulemane was sitting in the driver's seat not moving when officers ran up to the car. Officers' body camera video also showed neither officer on the other side of the car appeared to try to enter it.
“In fact, now that you’ve seen all the videos and heard the testimony of those officers, in fact there was no danger to anybody outside the car ... correct?" Devlin asked North.
“Not from what I could see now and after hearing testimony. But what I’m perceiving at the time is that there was danger,” North said.
Devlin said in his questioning that the officers could have tried to talk to Soulemane on their cruiser PA systems instead of rushing to the car and escalating the events.
North acknowledged other actions were possible. But he testified earlier that de-escalation and communication did not appear to be possible at first because Soulemane seemed unconscious initially.
After the passenger-door window was broken, Soulemane became alert and pulled out the knife, a series of events that happened within seconds and forced North to respond, North said.
North also acknowledged that firing his weapon could have seriously injured the officers.
To find North guilty, the six-person jury must find beyond a reasonable doubt that he killed Soulemane in “extreme indifference to human life” and his conduct was “reckless,” according to state law. First-degree manslaughter with a firearm carries up to 40 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum of five years behind bars.
Closing arguments are expected Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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