Former Hartford police officer charged in fatal shooting of a Black man in mental distress

A white police officer in Connecticut who fatally shot a Black man suffering a mental health crisis has been charged with manslaughter after a state investigation found he failed to de-escalate the confrontation.

The officer, Joseph Magnano, was fired by the Hartford Police Department following the Feb. 27 shooting of Steven Jones, a 55-year-old man with a history of mental illness who had been walking through the street holding a large knife.

Magnano was charged Monday by the Connecticut Inspector General after he turned himself into law enforcement, according to Hartford Police Union President James Rutkauski.

Information about his attorney was not immediately available.

The shooting drew widespread public outcry and questions over Hartford’s policies around responding to people in mental distress.

Body camera footage showed Magnano arriving at the scene as three other officers were in the process of trying to calm Jones, who had used the knife to cut himself and was suicidal, according to a 911 call made by his sister.

While the officers kept their distance from Jones and spoke to him softly, Magnano immediately began shouting at him to drop the knife. He then fired nine shots at Jones, less than a minute after leaving his vehicle.

In an arrest warrant issued Monday, the Connecticut Inspector General said their investigation found Magnano “did not engage in de-escalation measures (and) he failed to make reasonable attempts to use non-lethal force.”

The report also concluded that Jones “did not pose an imminent threat to bystanders,” and that Magnano had “ample space” to back away from him.

“To the extent Magnano subjectively believed that Jones posed a risk of serious physical injuries to bystanders in the area, Magnano made no effort to move bystanders out of any perceived harm’s way,” the warrant noted.

In his own sworn incident report, Magnano wrote that he was “fearful of Jones making a sudden lunge towards either an officer or citizen.”

At a news conference Monday, Rutkauski, the police union head, accused the inspector general’s office of rushing its findings, adding that Magnano was “defending his fellow officers, the community, himself.”

The civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Jones’ family, called the charges a “necessary and meaningful step toward accountability.”

“Stevie was in the middle of a mental health crisis, and instead of receiving the care he needed, he was shot nine times,” Crump said in a statement. “This charge reflects what the family has known all along, that what happened to Stevie was not justified.”