City police officers tased a 35-year-old man on the Green Monday afternoon after he allegedly assaulted a woman and then charged at police.
City police spokesperson Officer Christian Bruckhart told the Independent that, at 3:32 p.m. Monday, a woman called the police and said a man she didn’t know had grabbed her neck, leaving red marks.
Four officers and a sergeant were dispatched to the intersection of Temple and Elm Streets. They found the suspect — a 35-year-old man from New Haven — across the street from the library on Elm Street.
Bruckhart said the man rushed at officers, leading them to tase him, take him into custody, and charge him with Breach of Peace in the 2nd Degree and Interfering with an Officer.
Online state court records show that this same man — whom the Independent has not been able to reach for comment — has 11 criminal convictions for cases dating between 2015 and 2022, including for such charges as possession of a controlled substance, intent to operate a motor vehicle under suspension, violation of a protective order, violation of probation, and Breach of Peace in the 2nd Degree.
On Monday afternoon, a man who asked to remain anonymous told the Independent that he saw eight police cars on the Green around the time of the tasing. He said he saw that someone had been tased and then handcuffed.
Jisu Sheen, an arts reporter for the Independent who happened to be waiting for the 212 bus at the time, said she also saw the tasing take place.
“I heard a very loud sound,” she said. Looking to the source of that sound, she saw “three or four cops standing around a spot” and looking down.
A man then “slowly” started getting up, she recalled, but because he was so “limp,” she wondered whether he was standing on his own or cops were pulling him up.
She wasn’t sure what prompted the officers to tase the man but remembered seeing people around her staring in his direction before the tasing occurred.
According to Bruckhart, the suspect was transported to a hospital because someone, who identified himself as the suspect’s cousin, claimed the man had been given “some kind of drug” before the incident.
The Independent has submitted a Connecticut Freedom of Information Act request for body camera video footage from the incident.