A police officer in Naugatuck, Connecticut was arrested and charged with 3rd degree assault for the force he utilized during an effort to arrest an actively resistant felon.
The force utilized by the officer was reasonable, necessary, and proportional to achieve the lawful objective and well within any rational department use of force policy. However, during the arrest the officer utilized colorful language and dishonest politicians (as well as the usual swath of anti-police activists) are refusing to separate the cursing from the actual force utilized.
What Happened
On October 14, 2023 Jarrell Day stole six packs of beer (totaling approximately $200) from a Stop & Shop in Naugatuck, CT. Since the merchandise was taken unlawfully under the threat of force - this was upgraded to a felony level Robbery offense.
The store called police officers and Officer Nicholas Kehoss with the Naugatuck police department and his partner arrived on scene. Officers made contact with Mr. Day, who was in the driver’s seat of a vehicle, and gave him commands to “shut off” the car and exit.
Mr. Day refused to comply with the lawful commands and instead of accepting responsibility for his criminal acts he accelerated forward - away from police officers. As the vehicle fled at a high rate of speed - it crashed into two police cars in an effort to evade law enforcement.
At this point the officers had charges of: Robbery, Reckless driving, and Eluding an officer and a vehicle pursuit was initiated. Eventually, Mr. Day crashed the vehicle and ran on foot through an open field.
Caught
Officer Kehoss engaged in a foot pursuit after Mr. Day and was able to catch up to him in a field.
Officer Kehoss then gave Mr. Day commands to “Stop! Stop! Get on the ground!”
Mr. Day refused to comply and remained in a standing position.
Use of Force
Officer Kehoss then deployed a Taser at Mr. Day. This application of force did achieve the desired effect and Mr. Day fell to the ground.
Once on the ground, Mr. Day was laying on his back. Officer Kehoss gave him multiple commands to, “Get on your stomach!” Mr. Day refused to roll onto his stomach and the Taser was deployed a second time. This application of force did achieve the desired effect - as it convinced Mr. Day to roll onto his stomach.
Once on his stomach, Officer Kehoss holstered the Taser and gave Mr. Day several commands to, “Put your hands behind your back!” Mr. Day refused and kept his hands near his head. Officer Kehoss then grabbed Mr. Day’s right arm with both of his hands and tried to move it behind his back. Mr. Day actively resisted and pulled his arm away from Officer Kehoss. Officer Kehoss then warned Mr. Day that he would be “tased” if he did not comply and Officer Kehoss unholstered the Taser and deployed the device in “drive stun” mode on Mr. Day’s back. This application of force did achieve the desired effect - as it convinced Mr. Day to allow Officer Kehoss to handcuff him.
Post-Use of Force
Mr. Day sustained no injuries - as the Taser is uncomfortable during deployment - but typically has zero negative after effects.
Mr. Day was arrested and with charged with attempted second-degree assault, third-degree robbery, assault on police, illegal possession of a weapon in a vehicle, second-degree larceny, reckless driving, operating under suspension and evading responsibility.
Officer Kehoss was arrested and charged with intentional cruelty to persons and third-degree assault. He is free after posting $50,000 bail and has been on paid administrative leave since October 23, 2023.
Analysis
The use of force from Officer Kehoss - all three Taser deployments were not only within the law but were within the boundaries of any reasonable use of force policy.
Each Taser deployment was precipitated by commands and force warnings. Each Taser deployment was to achieve a very specific action:
Get on the ground.
Roll onto stomach.
Put hands behind back.
Once Mr. Day complied - the use of force stopped.
It seems that people have the most trouble with the third Taser deployment. However, the third Taser deployment is the most justifiable one. Here’s why:
The situation was not safe until Mr. Day was handcuffed. Therefore, it was reasonable for Officer Kehoss to try and achieve this.
After the second Taser deployment, Officer Kehoss holstered the Taser. This speaks volumes on his intent - that he did not plan on using the Taser again.
That changed when Mr. Day not only refused to put his hands behind his back but physically pulled his right arm away from Officer Kehoss during the handcuffing process.
This is the textbook definition of “active resistance”.
Officer Kehoss gave clear commands and several warnings that the Taser would be utilized a third time. Still, Mr. Day refused to comply.
After the third Taser deployment - Mr. Day complied and was handcuffed. And no additional force was utilized.
This is evidence that the force utilized by Officer Kehoss was only to achieve a lawful objective and was not excessive.
Investigation of Officer Kehoss
The Naugatuck Chief of Police (C. Colin McAllister) explained that a supervisor reviewed the body camera footage from this incident, had “concerns”, and sent the video to Waterbury State’s Attorney (Maureen Platt). Ms. Platt also had “concerns” about the conduct of Officer Kehoss and forwarded the case to the State Police to investigate. The charges against Officer Kehoss stem from the State Police investigation.
If the actions of Officer Kehoss were truly criminal in nature the Naugatuck police department would have filed charges and not passed it on because they were unsure. Also, the State’s Attorney would have filed charges against Officer Kehoss if his actions were truly criminal and her office would have not passed the case for a third opinion.
This case was shopped around to three different agencies before charges were filed. That speaks volumes about the merits of this case.
Media Malfeasance
In virtually every local and national article that covered this case - the personal history of Officer Kehoss is criticized and exaggerated. Every aspect of his personnel file has been combed through and violations of department policy from years ago - are being connected to this incident.
Those same journalists are not very interested in the criminal history of Jarrell Day.
I promise - the criminal history of Mr. Day is far more extensive, serious, violent, and relevant than the past policy violations of Officer Kehoss.
Language
During the arrest Officer Kehoss cursed and used foul language towards Mr. Day. Here are some examples:
“You are a fucking idiot, you know that, you turned a larceny into a felony.”
“Shut the fuck up!”
“Start fucking complying asshole!”
Alright. The language is not great. The language is likely a violation of department policy. That’s it. Give Officer Kehoss his letter of reprimand and we can all move on.
The double standard is astounding. The media is far more concerned with the cursing from an officer instead of a violent crime committed by an offender.
Final Thoughts
Every deployment of the Taser from Officer Kehoss was in furtherance to achieve the lawful objective of arresting Mr. Day for a violent felony. Each deployment of the Taser was precipitated by commands and a warning that force would be utilized. Each deployment of the Taser was while Mr. Day was actively resisting arrest.
Officer Kehoss arrested a violent felon without causing any injury. The fact that he is facing criminal charges should give all officers pause and seriously think twice about actively pursuing criminal offenders.
The charges against Officer Kehoss should be immediately dismissed and he should be reinstated back to full duty.
A society that makes war with it’s police; Must make peace with it's criminals.
An important thing to note here is that from the sounds of the taser, it did not make full contact. The loud clattering sound is usually an indication that the taser did not make the two proper contacts in order to incapacitate the subject. Anyone who's ever used a taser on someone else knows that the loud clattering is far different from the sound the taser makes when the two separate probes are embedded in the skin and that electricity is traveling from one probe to the other as opposed to escaping into the air. The second indicator to me is the fact that Mr day did not fall to the ground, instead he got down on the ground. If the taser had worked properly his body would have locked up and he would have fallen in the classic taser fall that we see on TV so often.
Another important thing to note here is that the officer was alone with a violent suspect who had just committed a robbery, had committed what was essentially an aggravated assault on a police officer by ramming the police vehicle, fled in a high-speed Pursuit endangering not just his passenger but everyone else on the road and then run into a Brushy area and the officer had no backup there with him. If I'm that officer there's no way in hell I'm going to take this guy's feigned compliance as real compliance and every good police officer knows the difference. In fact, at the beginning of the video Day acts innocent until he suddenly throws the vehicle into drive and flees, striking a police vehicle. Day had not been searched, the officer had no reason to believe that he was not armed or would comply and the officer was by himself with no backup readily available.
Thank you Daniel for covering these unjust politically driven charges.
This should cause great concern to all our LEO's.
I fear they may hesitate or worse, avoid these situations and let the criminals run free.
We need our LEO's!!!!!!