MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Connecticut State Police on Tuesday released body cam footage of the officer-involved shooting (OIS) near Yale University. The OIS sparked a week of local protests.
The video, captured by Hamden Police Officer Devin Eaton’s body camera, started after Eaton and Yale University Officer Terrance Pollock stopped a red Honda Civic just after 4:00 a.m. on April 16 about a mile from the Yale campus, Fox 61 reported.
Police said they had received a 911 call about a possible armed robbery at a gas station. While investigating, the officers came across the Honda, which they believed to be involved in the crime.
The footage showed Eaton approaching the vehicle from behind. When the driver opened the door and started to get out, Eaton ran around to the passenger side and fired his weapon. Eaton then took shelter behind another vehicle and row of garbage cans and transmitted on his police radio, “shots fired.”
The driver, Paul Witherspoon III, 21, was not injured in the incident. However, his girlfriend, Stephanie Washington, 22, was sitting in the passenger’s seat. Consequently, she was injured, but her wounds were not life threatening, according to the New Haven Register.
In addition to the body cam footage, Connecticut State Police also released a 911 call, police dispatch audio and two angles of surveillance footage.
Connecticut State Police Commissioner James Rovella said Eaton fired 13 times and Pollock fired three times. He also said that Pollock was hit with a “projectile” from Eaton during the shooting.
Rovella said investigators have interviewed Witherspoon but would not yet release that information.
Michael Dolan, an attorney for Witherspoon, said his client maintains that he never had a gun and was never involved in a robbery.
Since the shooting occurred, local leaders, activists, and community members have taken to the streets and the Yale campus to protest and call for police accountability.
Witherspoon’s uncle, Rodney Williams, has called for the officers involved in the shooting to be fired, yet there are many details that remain undisclosed to the public.
