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CT State Trooper Charged For 2020 Fatal Shooting

The Connecticut state trooper who allegedly fatally shot a 19-year-old after a high-speed chase has been arrested on a manslaughter charge.

The scene of the shooting.

The scene of the shooting.

Photo Credit: Inspector General Robert J. Devlin Jr.
The knife Soulemane was holding.

The knife Soulemane was holding.

Photo Credit: Inspector General Robert J. Devlin Jr.

Brian D. North turned himself in at the New Haven County Troop I barracks in Bethany at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, the Inspector General Robert J. Devlin Jr. said Wednesday, April 20.

North was charged with one count of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm in connection with the Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020, shooting death of Mubarak Soulemane, age 19, in West Haven, Devlin said.

He was released on a $50,000 bond and is expected to appear in Milford Superior Court on Tuesday, May 3. 

Soulemane was fatally shot at the end of a high-speed chase in which Soulemane can be seen on video with a knife, the report from Devlin said.

In the report, Devlin writes that neither North nor two other officers were in danger of having deadly force used against them.

"Stated briefly, the investigation establishes that, at the time Trooper North fired his weapon, neither he nor any other person was in imminent danger of serious injury or death from a knife attack at the hands of Soulemane. 

"Further, any belief that persons were in such danger was not reasonable. I, therefore, find that North’s use of deadly force was not justified under Connecticut law," he wrote. 

Soulemane's family and the NAACP have been vocal in their calls for justice since the shooting, hosting vigils and press conferences calling for North to be charged.

North, who was hired in 2015, has been placed on paid administrative leave, and his police powers have been suspended, during the criminal proceedings, state police said.

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