DERBY — The following is the text for this week’s “Navel Gazing” podcast. Please press the play button above to listen.
Hi, welcome to Navel Gazing: The Valley Indy Podcast, sponsored by ValleyGivesBack.org
I’d like to take a few minutes to talk about the April 26 police shooting on Division Street in Ansonia. There have been several posts on social media from residents complaining that the news stories have been too confusing, and a few of the same questions or comments have been posted on social media.
For those of you unaware, a Derby police officer allegedly shot and wounded 29-year-old Corneilus McCullough of Derby at about 7 a.m. Monday April 26 on Division Street near Clifton Avenue in Ansonia. Division Street is the literal border between Ansonia and Derby.
McCullough was taken to Bridgeport Hospital. He was not seriously injured. Upon his discharge from the hospital, he was charged by state police at 9:50 p.m. with illegal possession of a handgun and carrying a pistol without a permit.
For people confused, here it the law enforcement version of the story, broken down do its simplest parts:
1. Derby cop sitting in his patrol car at a light at Division and Clifton looking up toward Griffin Hospital.
2. McCullough and another person approach the cop in frantic fashion
3. McCullough allegedly shoots at a vehicle driving by
4. Derby cop shoots McCullough, hitting him in the leg
That is the long story short, from police. Please note that McCullough’s family did an interview with WTNH Channel 8 during which they disputed parts of that account.
It’s important to note that state police are conducting a use of force investigation under the direction of Stephen J. Sedensky III, the State’s Attorney of the Danbury Judicial District. That report will be made public, but it could take awhile to complete. The most recent use of force investigation in my coverage area was in Ansonia, and it took 11 months.
The use of force report will get into some of the granular level details that people are seeking but are just not publicly available the day after the incident. Example: on Facebook people are saying the officer specifically aimed for McCullough’s leg. Like me, the people posting this weren’t there, and I presume they didn’t talk to the officer involved, so that is an assumption people are making. They’re drawing their own conclusions. Nothing has been said, either way. Like it or not, that type of specific information could take awhile to come out from investigators. At this point we don’t know for sure that state police have interviewed the officer, so we have to wait.
Did McCullough and this other person (who was not named or charged at this point) get into the Derby officer’s police car? NO, I am told. Again, NO, I am told. They were not literally inside the patrol car.
In the initial emergency radio transmissions from the officer to Derby police dispatch, you can clearly hear the officer say “get out of my car.” But you can also hear, within 15 seconds, the officer report that shots have been fired. That does not appear to be enough time to get in and out of a car and then shoot. That is me speculating, slightly, but again, I have been told no one got into the officer’s car.
Here is the audio.
(audio from radio transmission)
My first impression of the audio — and again, this is slight speculation — is that you have an officer suddenly thrust into chaos. He’s sitting at a light minding his own business and suddenly one or two people are banging on his window. He says what comes into his mind, which perhaps is to create some space between himself and the people, and to figure out what the hell’s going on.
At the noonish press conference held yesterday outside the Derby Police Department, Chief Gerald Narowski indicated that the officer was out of his car and heading toward the curb.
The vehicle that McCullough is accused of shooting at, BTW — from what I’m told as of Tuesday morning the preliminary investigation is leading police to think that vehicle is just wrong, place wrong time, that the vehicle isn’t connected to anything.
Here’s Chief Narowski.
audio from press conference plays
