CT state trooper takes stand in trial, defends fatal shooting of teen. It escalated to ‘lethal force’
When North began to describe his perception of the events as they unfolded, Devlin was quick to cut him off and ask him to answer questions “based on fact” and “not what you’re perceiving.”
State police trooper Brian North took the stand Friday during the first day of his defense in the trial charging him with manslaughter in the fatal 2020 shooting of Mubarak Soulemane, telling the jury he fired seven shots at the teen believing he could have used the knife he had just grabbed to kill two other police officers at the scene — an assertion the prosecution contends was incorrect.
“I had tunnel vision at that point,” North testified at Ansonia-Milford Judicial District Courthouse.
“It’s almost like an ‘Oh my God’ feeling, this is happening,” North said, adding that he believed Soulemane could have stabbed an officer in the face or neck based on his vantage point.
North, 33, faces one count of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm in the Jan. 15, 2020 shooting death of Soulemane, who was 19 when he displayed a knife at an AT&T in Norwalk after 4 p.m. before stealing a Hyundai Sonata from a Lyft driver. Previous testimony indicated the teen had suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder for years, during which time he struggled to take his prescribed medications, and that he appeared to be experiencing a psychiatric episode in the days leading up to the shooting.
Law enforcement officers detail chaotic scene when teen was shot by CT trooper at manslaughter trial
Norwalk police called off their pursuit of the Sonata on Route 7 before state police — who were incorrectly told the vehicle had been taken during a carjacking — picked up a pursuit of the vehicle on Interstate 95. Soulemane reportedly drove between 80 and 100 mph and struck multiple motorists, including two police cruisers as they tried to box him in during the chase.
The pursuit ended when Soulemane left I-95 using Exit 43 in West Haven, where he crashed into a Chevrolet Trailblazer and became partially boxed in by troopers just after 5 p.m.
North testified Friday that as he, Trooper Joshua Jackson and West Haven Officer Anthony Rappa, whom he did not know, approached the Sonata on foot he noticed Soulemane appeared unconscious. As Rappa broke the passenger side window, North, who had his weapon drawn on the driver side of the car, testified that he saw the teen’s “eyes shoot wide open” before he reached toward his waistband and brandished a serrated kitchen knife.
“He had introduced a knife and rapidly escalated to a lethal force encounter,” North said, testifying that he saw the teen’s eyes move toward Rappa and Jackson — an action he described as what he believed to be “target glancing.”
Jackson unsuccessfully deployed a taser as Soulemane appeared to have the knife “coiled back,” North testified, saying at one point he looked over toward Jackson and Rappa and could not see the West Haven officer’s head, leading him to believe he had started entering the vehicle.
“I felt I had to act in that moment or the West Haven officer or potentially Trooper Jackson could have been killed,” North told the jury, saying he fired his gun “until I determined the threat was stopped.”
During cross-examination, State Inspector General Robert Devlin, Jr., — who is prosecuting North after his investigation concluded the trooper’s use of force was unjustified — hurled an onslaught of critical questions toward the 33-year-old and the police response once Soulemane was found to be unresponsive.
Upon reviewing body cam and cruiser footage of the shooting — which showed none of the officers were entering the vehicle at the moment North fired — Devlin said, “None of these people are in any danger whatsoever from that knife.”
When North began to describe his perception of the events as they unfolded, Devlin was quick to cut him off and ask him to answer questions “based on fact” and “not what you’re perceiving.”
“I don’t agree with that,” North said in response to Devlin’s assertion that Soulemane did not pose a threat.
During cross-examination, North conceded that police had no communication with Soulemane other than Jackson yelling “Get out of the car, get out of the car” and that the teen may not have even heard him under the noisy I-95 overpass with sirens from multiple police cars still blaring.
Noting that North had a flashlight affixed to his firearm, Devlin asked the trooper if it would have been too much of an “inconvenience” to check the passenger side to see if an officer had indeed began to enter the vehicle before firing his gun with what he described as “pretty thin evidence” that an officer was inside and endangered.
North testified that police are trained not to point a light affixed to a gun in the same manner one would with a regular flashlight, as it could put others in the line of fire and in danger.
“More dangerous than shooting someone in the chest seven times?” the Devlin fired back.
“How about, ‘back off, he’s got a knife?’” Devlin asked.
“No, I did not do that,” North testified.
While displaying a slide taken from a training course police are taught about conducting felony motor vehicle stops — which included instructions on having a plan, communicating and not immediately approaching the suspect vehicle — Devlin said North and others at the scene “did all of those things wrong.”
Throughout the trial, Devlin has insisted police did not need to be so gung ho about breaching the vehicle and removing Soulemane and that they could have backed off and tried communicating with a PA system on their cruisers. He has also insisted police would have had more control of the situation had they eased off a bit and possibly waited for instruction from a supervisor.
“Maybe awaken him from his stupor,” Devlin suggested. “As a matter of fact, everything that was done escalated the situation.”
During testimony Friday, Devlin also pressed North on whether he even waited to see if the taser Jackson deployed had been effective.
“I don’t believe there was time for that,” North said.
North, who took the stand for about three and a half hours, testified that the primary goal of the officers on scene was to eliminate the threat of Soulemane driving off from the scene or fleeing on foot. The trooper further noted the urgency he believed was necessary upon seeing that the teen was unresponsive, as North said he would have been brain-dead within four to six minutes if he were not breathing.
During a contentious few hours Friday, Devlin pointed to a statement North made to Connecticut State Police supervisors who responded to the scene shortly after the shooting. While being asked to give a “synopsis” of what had happened, North said he fired upon seeing Soulemane had a knife. Devlin, a former prosecutor and judge, noted that the then 29-year-old trooper made no mention at that point of trying to save Jackson or Rappa from potentially being killed.
“The one thing that could justify it,” Devlin said. “The most important thing in this whole case, you don’t mention it.”
Devlin also insisted that, upon reviewing the footage and seeing that an officer was not in the vehicle, North’s decision to fire was not “objectively reasonable.”
Throughout testimony all week and while his client took the stand, Riccio has pointed to the mere seconds North and others on scene had once they approached the Sonata, saying the trooper’s decision to use lethal force was a “split-second decision.” Riccio, who has characterized Devlin’s analysis of the shooting as “Monday morning quarterbacking,” also pointed to footage that showed Jackson and Rappa each grabbing the passenger side door handle at various points during the incident as evidence that North’s inference that one of them was in the vehicle when Soulemane brandished a knife was reasonable.
Riccio also pointed to the decision Rappa apparently made on his own to break the window, which he said completely changed the situation, forcing North and Jackson to adapt.
During his testimony, North — who said he became a state trooper in 2014 because he wanted to make a positive impact and a difference in the world — was asked by Riccio to describe how he felt immediately after the shooting and the years that have followed.
“I was definitely in shock,” North said. “My hands were shaking and my heart was beating like crazy.”
As he began to process the gravity of the situation, North testified that he felt an overwhelming “buzzing or vibrating” sensation in his body.
The trooper said there is no training that could have mentally prepared him for what he experienced afterward.
“It was a horrible feeling that comes over you,” North said, adding that he was “in shock” for hours at the hospital before being overcome with “mental anguish.”
“It doesn’t go away,” he said. “I still think about it every day. I still lose sleep over it. It’s not an easy thing to live with.”
When asked by Riccio if he still wants to be a state police trooper, North hesitated for several seconds until Devlin objected to the question based on its relevance to the case. Judge H. Gordon Hall sustained the objection.
North’s testimony Friday came after Devlin rested his case a day earlier. He briefly re-opened the matter Friday morning to submit two exhibits he had forgotten to earlier in the week.
North’s testimony was also preceded by Riccio filing a motion for acquittal. He argued that the state did not present sufficient evidence to support the manslaughter charge, contending that Devlin failed to bring in expert testimony to show that North’s use of force was not reasonable.
“The evidence is insufficient,” Riccio argued.
Devlin objected to the acquittal motion, arguing that Soulemane being shot seven times in a car surrounded by police officers was “sufficient evidence.”
Hall quickly denied the motion before North was called to testify.
The trial is expected to continue Monday at 10 a.m. Riccio has not given an indication as to how long his defense will take. When the trial began Monday court officials said the proceedings were expected to go on for about a week and a half.