Family of man fatally shot by Hartford police officer says they will file wrongful death lawsuit
The family of the man fatally shot by a Hartford police officer last week said on Wednesday that they intend to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Hartford and the Hartford Police Department.
Everard Walker was shot by Officer Alexander Clifford on Thursday after he pulled out a knife and “appeared to be poised to stab” Officer Geovanny Rivera during an evaluation conducted by the Capitol Region Mental Health Center, according to a preliminary report released by the state’s Office of the Inspector General on Monday.
Police were asked to accompany the Capitol Region when a family member of 53-year-old Walker called 211 and said Walker was suffering from an “acute mental health crisis,” the report said.
“We wanted an evaluation,” said Linda Gray, Walker’s partner. “We did not call no police.”
Walker’s family is being represented by Attorney Ken Krayeske, who emphasized that police were not responding to a criminal call.
“The Hartford Police escalated a minor mental health call into a fatal encounter that they ended in a barrage of bullets,” Krayeske said. “I saw a repeated failure over the course of an entire hour that this interaction devolved. That was an invasion of his home. There was no warrant.”
Krayeske said the Walker family is giving the city 30 days to respond before they file their lawsuit.
“He killed my husband,” Gray said. “They took my world from me.”
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam (D) is also looking into the case.
“We’re going to look into, in the days and weeks ahead, whether there was anything that could have been done differently,” Arulampalam said.
However, he said police officers already undergo extensive de-escalation training and that the city will conduct its own investigation once the Office of Inspector General’s investigation is complete.
“It was the HEART team who asked for police to be there and asked for police intervention,” Arulampalam said. “That’s a rare thing to happen. I think we’re going to have to see how the facts of this case play out.”
The Connecticut Police Accountability Act will serve as the basis for this lawsuit, according to Krayeske.
The officers involved in the incident are on paid administrative leave, Hartford Police Lt. Aaron Boisvert said. He also said doing that is customary for these types of shootings.
Hartford Police could not respond to a request for comment because the investigation is now being conducted by the Inspector General.
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