Teen may have been alive shortly after being shot by police

Jayson Negron Jayson Negron Photo: Contributed Photo Photo: Contributed Photo Image 1 of / 74 Caption Close Teen may have been alive shortly after being shot by police 1 / 74 Back to Gallery

BRIDGEPORT — With a State Police investigation expected to take several months, the Bridgeport community and Jayson Negron’s family and friends are waiting for answers.

But a video surfaced Friday that could raise more questions about the teen’s death. It apparently showed Negron alive and moving on the ground, handcuffed, in the moments after he was shot by a Bridgeport police officer on Tuesday.

Police said Negron, 15, and Julian Fyffe, 21, were in a stolen car that officers followed from Park Avenue and through a Walgreens parking lot. The pursuit and Negron’s life ended on Fairfield Avenue when he was shot by Bridgeport police officer James Boulay, whose bullets also wounded Fyffe in the shoulder, according to police.

A copy of the minutelong video, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, was acquired by Hearst Connecticut Media and later posted online by an unknown party. It appeared to have been taken by someone standing next to a car in the Walgreens parking lot, an area police had blocked off with caution tape after the shooting, which happened just after 5 p.m.

If the video is authentic, it is not clear how soon after the shooting it was recorded. Negron was pronounced dead at the scene, and his body lay in the street for hours afterward while the city police secured the area and then turned the investigation over to State Police.

Bridgeport police Chief Armando Perez said Friday that medical personnel “got there relatively quickly,” although he said he did not know the exact time of the response.

Calls for change

Perez said he knew of the video’s existence, but had not watched it and did not plan to.

“I’m not going to look at it,” he said. “I refuse to look at it. It’s a state police investigation and if someone has it, it should go to the state police. They are charged with this investigation.”

In the background of the video, blaring ambulance sirens can be heard as bystanders question what happened.

“They shot him,” one male voice said.

“They shot him, right?” another asked.

“Yeah, they shot that man,” the first man replied.

At one point in the video, Negron’s head appeared to face right, his left cheek pressed to the pavement. The camera panned away and returned to show Negron face-down. Throughout the video, his hands and body appeared to move multiple times.

The video appeared to show an officer approach Negron and address him, but it was unclear what the officer said. Later in the video, the same officer, now wearing purple latex gloves, appeared to go back to where Negron was lying on the ground. As the officer appeared to reach for Negron’s body, the video ended.

David McGuire, executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut, said the video is evidence of the need for statewide police reform.

“The callous disregard that Bridgeport police officers showed for Jayson Negron during his last moments of life is unacceptable,” McGuire said in a statement. “Their behavior was outside the realms of human decency and democracy.

“The City of Bridgeport must immediately act to create true accountability, transparency, and respect for human life in the Bridgeport Police Department,” McGuire said. “As a state, Connecticut must not make the mistake of believing that police excessive force and police accountability are simply Bridgeport problems, or pretend that racial disparities in policing do not exist.”

Conflicting accounts

State Police Western District Major Crime Squad detectives are investigating the shooting, in keeping with protocol in shootings where police officers are involved.

“There will be a thorough and complete investigation,” State’s Attorney Maureen Platt said. “This is a serious matter and must be treated as such. ... The community is entitled to expect that these investigations will be conducted professionally and completely.”

An earlier statement released by state police included a synopsis of the incident. But Perez has given some conflicting accounts.

One point of contradiction is whether the Bridgeport police officer who was hit by the stolen vehicle is the same officer who fired the shots that killed Negron and injured Fyffe.

The state police statement said the officer who fired the shot and the officer who was hit by the car were not the same man. But, according to Perez, the officer who was struck was the one who fired the shots.

When Perez was asked later in the past week whether it was the same officer, he said he was just repeating what his officers told him about what happened.

Meanwhile, a funeral for Negron, who was a sophomore at Bunnell High School in Stratford, has been scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m. Burial will be at Park Cemetery, on Lindley Street in Bridgeport.

Money was collected for some of the funeral costs Wednesday evening during a rally held on Fairfield Avenue. Since then, a GoFundMe page has been created to help pay for Negron’s funeral expenses. As of Friday evening it had raised over $4,300.