In this still photo from the video, Gregory can be seen advancing toward a police officer while holding a knife.
ANSONIA — A 30-year-old man repeatedly asked to be shot and threatened to stab an officer before advancing toward police while holding a knife, police body camera footage shows.
An officer fires three shots, killing Michael Gregory of Ansonia.
The body camera footage, posted on YouTube by state police, is embedded below. Please note that it is graphic.
The state police Western District Major Crime Squad is investigating the shooting, which happened the evening of Jan. 2. The investigators released the video Monday, but did not comment as the investigation is ongoing.
The 25-minute video contains body camera footage from three officers: first, Officer Brendon Nelson; second, Officer Wojciech Podgorski and, third; Sgt. Christopher Flynn.
The officers were sent to the first-floor apartment at 81 Myrtle Ave. after Gregory’s girlfriend walked into the lobby of the Ansonia Police Department and said he had showed up at the apartment and “had become physically aggressive,” according to a statement last week by Ansonia Police Chief Andrew Cota.
Gregory had been ordered by a court not to go near the woman because of a previous domestic violence incident, police said. Officers went to the apartment expecting to take him into custody.
The Video
The first video, shown from Officer Nelson’s point of view, shows officers repeatedly knocking on the back kitchen door of the residence. Police dispatch had told the officers the door should be open, based on what the girlfriend said in the lobby.
Over the course of a few minutes, police comment that they see movement inside the apartment and question each other as to whether they hear noise. They briefly move away from the back door for a side view of the residence, and then back toward the back door.
At roughly the 6 minute, 10 second point of the video, an officer opens the door, after knocking again.
“Hello, Ansonia police,” Officer Nelson says.
Two seconds after opening the door, Gregory can be seen standing on the other side of the kitchen, in a doorway. It sounds like he says “stop right there.”
“Come on out bud,” an officer says.
“I’m not coming out,” Gregory says, then starts walking across the kitchen. “I’m not coming out. You’re going to have to shoot me.”
“We’re going to have to shoot you?” the officer asks.
“Yeah, you’re going to have to shoot me,” Gregory says while picking up what appears to be a knife from the kitchen counter.
“Come on out, man,” the officer says. “You don’t want to do that.”
“You’re going to have shoot me,” Gregory says, a phrase he repeats as his voice gets louder.
“We’re not playing this game,” an officer says.
Gregory then shouts an expletive toward the officer after one of the officers asked him to “just have a conversation.”
“You’re going to have to shoot me to arrest me,” Gregory says.
An officer tells him to put the knife down. Gregorys says he won’t.
“Shoot me. Shoot me,” he says at the 6:48 mark. “Shoot me or run up on me,” he says twice. “That’s exactly how it’s going to go.”
He then takes steps toward the officers saying they’ll have to shoot him or charge him.
An officer tells him to put the knife down. Gregory puts a cigarette in his mouth and walks toward the officers, who have, at the 7:03 point in the video, walked backward out the kitchen door.
They tell him to put the knife down.
Gregory slams the door shut.
An officer then kicks the back door seven times to get it back inside the house. They tell Gregory to step out.
At the video’s 7:34 point, Gregory appears to have entered a room off the kitchen and closed the door.
Gregory says something that sounds like ‘why,’ then repeats his statement “you’re going to have to shoot me.”
An officer asks him to open the door, saying it’s his last chance.
“You’re going to have to shoot me,” he says. At the video’s 7:59 mark, he says he is going to take one of the officers with him.
An officer kicks the door.
“That worked. Do it again, I’m going to stab one of y’all,” Gregory says. “Do it again. You’re going to have to shoot me.”
An officer, in a lowered voice, says “Ready?” to another officer.
“Ready? I’m ready,” Gregory says.
An officer kicks the door open. Another officer immediately fires a Taser at Gregory.
Gregory advances toward an officer while holding the knife saying what sounds like “you missed, you missed.”
“Taser deployed, Taser deployed,” Officer Nelson says repeatedly.
The officer who kicked the door open backs away as Gregory comes toward him around a kitchen table — while holding the knife.
“Shoot me,” Gregory says at the 8:24 mark.
Three shots can be heard and Gregory drops to the floor.
Investigation Continues
State police investigators have not issued a conclusion about the shooting.
State police are conducting a review of the incident at the request of Danbury State’s Attorney Steve Sedensky.
“This footage is just one part of the on-going investigation. Detectives from the Western District Major Crime Squad will continue to investigate this incident,” state police said in a prepared statement.
“Once their investigation is completed, detectives will submit their findings to the Danbury State’s Attorney’s Office for review. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Western District Major Crime Squad at 860 – 626-7975.”
Ansonia police, presumably after state police finish their work, will also conduct an internal affairs investigation regarding the handling of the call.
