2020 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 51 - Courts
Chapter 886 - Division of Criminal Justice
Section 51-277a - Investigation of the use of physical force by a peace officer that results in death of another person or use of deadly force. Reporting.
(a)(1) Whenever a peace officer, in the performance of such officer's duties, uses physical force upon another person and such person dies as a result thereof or uses deadly force, as defined in section 53a-3, upon another person, the Division of Criminal Justice shall cause an investigation to be made and shall have the responsibility of determining whether the use of physical force by the peace officer was appropriate under section 53a-22. The division shall request the appropriate law enforcement agency to provide such assistance as is necessary to determine the circumstances of the incident.
(2) On and after January 1, 2020, whenever a peace officer, in the performance of such officer's duties, uses physical force upon another person and such person dies as a result thereof, the Division of Criminal Justice shall cause a preliminary status report to be completed that shall include, but need not be limited to, (A) the name of the deceased person, (B) the gender, race, ethnicity and age of the deceased person, (C) the date, time and location of the injury causing such death, (D) the law enforcement agency involved, (E) the status on the toxicology report, if available, and (F) the death certificate, if available. The division shall complete the report and submit a copy of such report not later than five business days after the cause of the death is available in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to the judiciary and public safety.
(b) In causing an investigation to be made pursuant to subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of this section, the Chief State's Attorney shall, (1) as provided in section 51-281, designate a prosecutorial official from a judicial district other than the judicial district in which the incident occurred to conduct the investigation, or (2) as provided in subsection (a) of section 51-285, appoint a special assistant state's attorney or special deputy assistant state's attorney to conduct the investigation. The Chief State's Attorney shall, upon the request of such prosecutorial official or special prosecutor, appoint a special inspector or special inspectors to assist in such investigation.
(c) Upon the conclusion of the investigation of the incident, the Division of Criminal Justice shall file a report with the Chief State's Attorney which shall contain the following: (1) The circumstances of the incident, (2) a determination of whether the use of physical force by the peace officer was appropriate under section 53a-22, and (3) any future action to be taken by the division as a result of the incident. The Chief State's Attorney shall provide a copy of the report to the chief executive officer of the municipality in which the incident occurred and to the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection or the chief of police of such municipality, as the case may be, and shall make such report available to the public on the division's Internet web site not later than forty-eight hours after the copies are provided to the chief executive officer and the commissioner or chief of police.
(P.A. 88-199; P.A. 90-230, S. 66, 101; P.A. 98-48, S. 1; P.A. 11-51, S. 134; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-4, S. 4; P.A. 19-90, S. 3.)
History: P.A. 90-230 corrected the reference to “deadly physical force” in Subsec. (a); P.A. 98-48 added Subsec. (b) authorizing the designation of a prosecutorial official from another judicial district or the appointment of a special prosecutor to conduct the investigation, requiring the appointment of special inspectors when requested and authorizing any person to make a written request for the designation of a prosecutorial official from another judicial district or the appointment of a special prosecutor to conduct the investigation and relettered former Subsec. (b) as Subsec. (c); pursuant to P.A. 11-51, “Commissioner of Public Safety” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection” in Subsec. (c), effective July 1, 2011; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-4 amended Subsecs. (a) and (c)(2) to replace “deadly physical force” with “physical force”, amended Subsec. (b) to designate existing provision re designation of prosecutorial official from judicial district other than one in which incident occurred as Subdiv. (1), designate existing provision re appointment of special assistant state's attorney or special deputy assistant state's attorney as Subdiv. (2) and replace “may” with “shall”, and made technical and conforming changes; P.A. 19-90 amended Subsec. (a) by designating existing provisions re investigation of peace officer's use of physical force resulting in death as Subdiv. (1) and amending same by adding provision re use of deadly force upon another person, adding Subdiv. (2) re peace officer's use of physical force resulting in death and preliminary status report, amended Subsec. (b) by adding reference to Subsec. (a)(1), amended Subsec. (c) by adding provision re availability of report on division's Internet web site, and made technical changes.
