Cop Arrested For Killing Mubarak Soulemane

by Thomas Breen, New Haven Indedepndent, April 20, 2022

More than two years and three months after state trooper Brian North shot and killed New Haven teenager Mubarak Soulemane, the state has wrapped up its investigation of the case — and has arrested and charged the law enforcement officer with one count of first-degree manslaughter.

Inspector General Robert J. Devlin, Jr. made that announcement in a Wednesday morning press release. The press release states that North was released on a $50,000 bond and is expected to appear in Milford Superior Court on May 3.

The email announcement was also accompanied by a 133-page report that describes in detail the investigation that led to North’s arrest. The charges stem from the shooting death of Soulemane, a 19-year-old Fair Haven resident and child of Ghanian immigrants, on Jan. 15, 2020. That’s when state troopers engaged in a car chase with Soulemane up I‐95 while the New Havener was in the grip of an apparent schizophrenic episode.

“On January 15, 2020, at approximately 5:05 p.m. on Campbell Avenue, West Haven, Connecticut, after an extended pursuit on I‐95, Connecticut State Troopers Brian North, Joshua Jackson, and Ross Dalling successfully stopped a stolen 2012 Hyundai Sonata being operated by Mubarak Soulemane,” the introduction to the investigation reads. “The troopers’ police vehicles effectively blocked in the Hyundai. Shortly after the stop, Trooper North fired seven shots through the driver’s side window of the Hyun-dai. The bullets struck and killed Soulemane who was seated in the driver’s seat holding a knife.”

Thomas Breen Photo

Ultimately, at the time that 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 Soule-mane,” Devlin’s report continues. “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.”

[This article can be read in its entirety at www.newhavenindependent.org/article/brian_north_arrest]