The Connecticut Office of the Inspector General released a report stating that the Bridgeport police officers’ use of deadly force in a 2021 incident was “flawed” but not legally unjustified. The incident involved officers pursuing 41-year-old Jonathan Mark Lewis Bell, who crashed into a home in Ansonia. Bell was unarmed but refused to show his hands and made a quick movement towards an unspecified object, prompting the officers to fire their weapons. The report found that the officers’ belief that Bell was reaching for a gun was premature and not objectively reasonable. The report also criticized the officers for not de-escalating the situation before the shooting occurred. Bell was pronounced dead at the hospital, and the officers involved were placed on modified duty pending the investigation. The IG’s office recommended that the consequences of the officers’ actions be determined by the Bridgeport Police Department’s leadership and Internal Affairs Division. Bridgeport police have not commented on the report.
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