HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A Connecticut police officer who shot a knife-wielding man to death in January was justified in using deadly force, but police agencies should take steps to improve how they deal with mentally ill people, a prosecutor said in a report released Friday.
Ansonia police Officer Brendon Nelson opened fire on 30-year-old Michael Gregory in the apartment of Gregory’s girlfriend on Jan. 2. At the time, Gregory was charging with a knife at three officers after they had repeatedly ordered him to drop the knife and Nelson had tried to subdue him with a stun gun, which had no effect. The events were recorded by officers’ body cameras .
Gregory had told officers that they were going to have to shoot him. His mother later told police that her son had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, had been in and out of psychiatric care since he was 13, did not take his medicine and had attempted suicide several times.
Danbury State’s Attorney Stephen Sedensky III said in his report that Nelson believed deadly force was necessary to defend himself and the other officers, and he cleared Nelson of wrongdoing.
“It was reasonable for Officer Nelson to have believed that had Mr. Gregory reached the officers with his knife he would have seriously injured or killed one of them,” Sedensky wrote.
Gregory’s girlfriend, who has not been named, had left her apartment before the shooting and drove to the police department, where she asked officers to go to her home. She said Gregory, who was not supposed to be there because of a no-contact order related to a previous domestic incident, had assaulted her and taken her phone.
Sedensky said the girlfriend did not mention Gregory’s mental health problems. But the girlfriend told investigators that police knew of Gregory’s mental illness, and she and Gregory’s mother said they believed police didn’t do enough to de-escalate the situation before the shooting, according to the report.
Gregory was shot just over two minutes after officers had entered the apartment. The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut said it appeared police escalated the events.
Ansonia police officials said officers did try to diffuse the situation, but Gregory refused to follow orders to drop the knife and ran at the officers.
Sedensky said in his report that he felt compelled to make recommendations on how police can improve how they deal with mentally ill people, because incidents like the one involving Gregory keep happening.
He recommended that police dispatchers ask callers about any mental health background of which officers should be aware, that police departments have protocols and policies on how to handle people with mental illness and that officers should not be liable if they decide to allow a person to remain alone or be handled by a social worker.
Contact information for Gregory’s relatives could not immediately be found Friday.
His father, Miguel Gregory, initially told Hearst Connecticut Media in January that his son should not have been killed. Then he watched the police body camera videos.
“I had to see the video to answer my questions,” Miguel Gregory said. “I’m at peace now. … The boy was troubled.”
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