NAACP launches probe into I-95 stun gun death

Thomas Lane, of Ansonia, died after being tased while he struggled with state police trying to extricate him from his car after an accident on Interstate 95 in West Haven. Thomas Lane, of Ansonia, died after being tased while he struggled with state police trying to extricate him from his car after an accident on Interstate 95 in West Haven. Photo: Contributed Photo Photo: Contributed Photo Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close NAACP launches probe into I-95 stun gun death 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN — Outrage flared Friday over the death of Thomas Lane, the Ansonia man police blasted with a stun gun before pulling him from his wrecked car Monday on I nterstate 95 in West Haven.

“This is a very, very critical situation that the NAACP will not tolerate,” said Scot X. Esdaile, the organization’s statewide president, at a news conference announcing the NAACP’s own investigation into Lane’s death.

Esdaile called for federal authorities to intercede, and demanded legislative action during the noon conference at the NAACP’s headquarters in New Haven.

Lane suffered a severe head injury and was trapped in his vehicle “apparently screaming for his life,” said Darnell Crosland, the lawyer for Lane’s family and president of the Norwalk NAACP.

“It’s a sad day in Connecticut when the victim of a motor vehicle accident cannot die from their injuries, but must be electrocuted by the police,” Crosland said. “This was not a police investigation. There was not a car chase going, it was nothing criminal — simply a motor vehicle accident.”

Police said that Lane, 37, fought responders as they tried to free him from the mangled car, even as potentially dangerous fumes from gasoline hung in the air — and at one point he was harming himself with a piece of broken glass.

Lane, who grew up in Stamford, is the 18th stun gun-related death since 2005 in Connecticut, where two-thirds of the fatalities have been black or Hispanic. Between 2009 and 2013, 77 blacks died nationwide after being shot by police with electric stun guns — 41 percent of the total deaths related to the weapon.

Esdaile made reference to the racial strife in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore following police actions involving blacks in those communities and elsewhere around the country.

“The temperature involving the minority community’s relationship with police is rising,” Esdaile said. “We don’t want it to get hotter ... Incidents like this do not help deflect a crisis.”

Going home

Lane was on his way home to Tremont Street in Ansonia when State Police said his Jeep collided with a tractor trailer on I-95 near exit 42 in West Haven. The impact bounced the Jeep into a guardrail and the force flipped it over, causing it to careen down an embankment.

At some point, the engine ripped away from the passenger compartment, and there was the smell of gasoline around the crash, police said.

As Lane flailed violently, police said, he apparently broke the fingers of West Haven Fire Lt. William Heffernan, who was trying to help him.

More Information By the numbers: Of the 641 stun-gun-related incidents in 2015 in Connecticut: There were 437 firings of stun guns. 30 percent involved were black 21 percent were Hispanic When officers fired: 60 percent of the time at whites 80 percent involved blacks 69 percent involved Hispanics. Source: Associated Press

On Friday, State Police said Lane used a shard of glass to harm himself inside the vehicle.

As a result, the State Police said Trooper Justin Lund, a five-year veteran and West Haven Police Sgt. Joseph D’Amato, an eight-year veteran, fired their stun guns at him.

One of the electrified prods struck Lane, the other missed. Who fired the shot that struck Lane has not been disclosed, and State Police say their investigation is continuing.

The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said additional testing was being conducted, and that it could be two months before results of the autopsy were available.

State police maintain the stun guns were used “in order to safely remove (Lane) from the vehicle to provide him medical care and to stop him from causing further harm toward himself and first responders.”

But other veteran police officers like retired New Haven Police Sgt. Vince Riccio said stun guns “have become the lazy way to control someone.”

Riccio suggested other ways to extricate him from the car, including simply tossing a blanket over Lane and physically removing him.

Esdaile urged the state police and Milford State’s Attorney Kevin Lawlor to be transparent in their investigation of the incident.

“Some say it should be the federal government doing the investigation,” Esdaile said.

Esdaile said he’ll be calling U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly, U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, all D-Conn., for assistance in investigating the incident.

Public Safety Commissioner Doris Schriro, who oversees the state police, agreed to meet with Esdaile, the state police confirmed.

Esdaile also demanded that “Gov. (Dannel P.) Malloy and the Legislature mandate all Tasers (a commercial name for stun guns) be equipped with readily available cameras that will automatically record audio and video of all Taser incidents.”

David McGuire, the policy and legislative director for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Connecticut chapter, said such cameras are available on stun guns for $500 apiece.

Father of three

Esdaile also said state authorities should require all police departments make “the already mandated Taser use of force reports available to the public immediately after a fatal incident.”

No such report has been issued in the case of Lane, a father of three, who lived in Ansonia with his girlfriend and their infant daughter, Talia, and 20-year old son Brandon. An 8-year-old daughter, Natesha, lives with her mother in Florida.

Brandon, along with Brandon’s mother, Tracey Bevilacqua, of Watertown, were present Friday at the NAACP’s offices on 545 Whalley Avenue.

Lane called his father a “great man” who would “never hurt anyone.“

Unfortunately, he said “the cops that were there to help actually ended up hurting him. There was no need for any use of Tasers ... Those men were trained and should have handled this differently ... Maybe my father would still be recovering from the injuries he received in the accident.“

Lane attended Stamford public schools before receiving his GED, and then attended Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, where he obtained his certified nursing assistant license.

Lane was employed as a construction inspector by MTI of New Haven, which tests the viability of concrete, steel and soil.

His funeral is Saturday, Feb. 27, at 11 a.m. in the Unitarian Church at 20 Forest Street in Stamford.

Apostle Cathy Lane Whitfield, his aunt, is officiating.