The Bridgeport Police Department said police fatally shot a man who fled from a traffic stop on Monday. Civil rights groups in the area are now calling for an open and transparent investigation.
Mayor Joe Ganim released a video on social media saying information, including body camera footage, will be released as required.
“If we and when we receive any information that we can give out to the public and certainly to the family first, we will, in order to get to the actual facts of what happened,” Ganim said.
Police responded to a report of a large street fight involving firearms that occurred on East Main Street on March 31. They attempted to stop a car believed to be connected to the incident a short time later at the intersection of Kossuth Street and Beecher Street.
Police say a man fled from the stop and was later shot by police after a foot chase in the driveway of a nearby home. A firearm was recovered at the scene, police said. The man, who has not been identified, later died of his injuries at Bridgeport Hospital.
Ganim said the State Inspector General’s office is investigating the shooting. But the incident has led to criticism of police on social media and civil rights groups in the city are also calling for an open investigation. Bridgeport Generation Now and the Greater Bridgeport NAACP each issued statements.
City Councilmember Jazmarie Melendez, who ran for office after her brother Jayson Negron was fatally shot by a Bridgeport police officer in 2017, criticized Bridgeport police in a social media post, calling them the biggest gang.
