The Office of Inspector General has found that a state trooper who shot and injured a man in Bolton who was going through a mental health crisis and holding knives was justified because he reasonably believed he and other troopers were in threat of serious injury, according to a report released on Monday afternoon.
The report says that state troopers responded to a home on Meadow Road in Bolton around 2:15 p.m. after receiving a report that 29-year-old man was experiencing a mental health crisis.
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WATCH HEREState troopers Wendy Garcia-Campos, Doug Bernier and Brian Contenta responded to the residence for a medical assist call and dispatchers told them that a mobile crisis center received a call about a man wishing to harm himself and others and mobile crisis personnel could not respond to the scene, according Office of Inspector General.
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SIGN UP They found the 29-year-old man in the hallway, holding two knives, the Office of Inspector General said.
The troopers made several efforts to convince him to drop the knives, but he refused, according to report.
When the man raised the knife, Bernier used his Taser and Contenta fired his firearm multiple times, striking the man, according to the Office of Inspector General.
State troopers and EMS treated the man at the scene and he was transported to Hartford Hospital for treatment.
He was in the hospital for 16 days.
The man told police that he wanted to “forgive” what happened. When asked who he wanted to forgive, he said, “first myself for not putting the knives down” and he also wanted to forgive the police for what they did. “I think it was too much,” according to the report. He went on to say that he could not fully explain why he made the gesture with the knife that led to him being shot by police.
“I didn’t have any intentions of harming anyone. This is not how I wanted the new year to go,” he said, according to the report.
Trooper Contenta told investigators that the man was in a fighting position while holding combat knives in his hands and he said he knew the man was about to throw the knife at him, the man’s father or Trooper Bernier.
