The Connecticut Office of Inspector General has cleared two East Hartford police officers who fired their guns at a man who struck a building and a police cruiser and nearly hit two people — including one who was holding two children — while fleeing from an auto body shop last year.
The findings of the investigation, released in a report on Monday, concluded that Officer Daniel Guilfuchi and Officer Brian Altamirano of the East Hartford Police Department acted “objectively reasonable” when they fired multiple shots at a white Infiniti Q70 being driven by Deshawn Fitzpatrick — who was 26 at the time and was not injured — outside of Governor’s Auto Body on Governor Street on May 19, 2024.
Both officers responded to the shop when an employee called 911 at 3:30 p.m. and said one of two men, identified as Maximo Smith, had allegedly brandished a gun after Fitzpatrick accused employees of stealing drugs from a gray Infiniti that had been towed the previous day, the report said. Neither man was initially allowed to claim the vehicle, as the registered owner was identified as the mother of Smith’s children.
The mother and her children, a 4-year-old and an infant, took an Uber to the shop before the gray Infiniti was released to them, the report said. At that point, Fitzpatrick went through the vehicle and accused an employee of stealing drugs that were reportedly inside, according to the report.
The employees alleged that Smith then brandished a firearm and tried to lure one of them over to the vehicle where the employee feared they would be shot, according to the report. The employees contacted police and went across the street to wait for officers to arrive.
Altamirano was the first to the scene and he spotted a white Infiniti that Fitzpatrick and Smith had arrived in, according to the report. Altamirano can be seen getting out of his cruiser and immediately asking Smith and the mother of the children — who were outside the Q70 — if anyone has a firearm, his body and dashboard camera show.
Fitzpatrick can then be heard starting the Q70 before backing up, the footage shows. Guilfuchi arrives shortly thereafter and tries to box the vehicle in. Fitzpatrick then strikes the cruiser before Smith, holding the infant, opens the rear passenger side door and gets the 4-year-old out of the vehicle, the footage shows. Fitzpatrick then backs up abruptly and hits the auto body shop, knocking down the mother of the children in the process, the footage shows.
In his report, Inspector General Eliot Prescott noted that Fitzpatrick then allegedly drove the vehicle directly at Guilfuchi as his cruiser’s driver side door was open and he was partially still in the vehicle. Prescott said there “is no dispute that Guilfuchi both subjectively and reasonably believed that he was facing the use of deadly physical force” as Fitzpatrick drove directly at him, according to the report. Prescott noted that Guilfuchi believed the couple and their children were endangered as well, as Fitzpatrick went back and forth between striking Guilfuchi’s cruiser and the autobody shop, knocking the mother to the ground.
Prescott reported that Guilfuchi initially fired twice at Fitzpatrick before firing an additional six rounds through the cruiser’s windshield as he fled the parking lot, the report said. The first three shots in the second round of gunfire came as Fitzpatrick was still in the parking lot and posed a risk to those at the scene, according to the report.
“At this point, it was reasonable for Guilfuchi to believe that Fitzpatrick still posed a substantial risk of serious physical injury to those present at the scene,” Prescott wrote. “The Infiniti was still within 10 feet or less of Guilfuchi’s cruiser and Fitzpatrick could easily have reversed his vehicle and rammed the cruiser again.”
“The final three rounds discharged by Officer Guilfuchi, however, are more concerning from a legal and practical standpoint,” Prescott wrote. “The further away the Infiniti moved from Officer Guilfuchi, the less of a threat it and Fitzpatrick posed to Guilfuchi’s and the others’ safety. At some point, Officer Guilfuchi had a legal duty not to fire any additional rounds because doing so would not be in self-defense.”
Prescott concluded that the final three rounds “did not constitute criminal conduct,” citing a delay an officer can experience from the time they start shooting until they can perceive that someone no longer poses a threat, according to the report. Prescott cited a study published in the Journal of Forensic Biomechanics which recognizes a “psychological refractory period” in high-stress events, the report said.
“This period is the short delay in the ability to react to a second stimulus when your brain is still processing the first one,” Prescott wrote.
Prescott also concluded that Altamirano was justified when he fired six rounds toward Fitzpatrick. In his statement to investigators, Altamirano said he believed the gunshots he could see on Guilfuchi’s windshield were coming from gunfire being shot at his fellow officer. He also told investigators he feared Guilfuchi had been struck by the Infiniti, as his leg appeared to be hanging out of the cruiser when Fitzpatrick rammed the cruiser for the second time, the report said.
“Of course, he was factually mistaken that Fitzpatrick had been firing at Guilfuchi because there is no forensic evidence that Fitzpatrick discharged a firearm,” Prescott wrote in his report. “He simply mistook Guilfuchi’s discharge of his firearm through his cruiser windshield as evidence that Guilfuchi was in mortal danger.”
Prescott concluded that the “mistake” was “not unreasonable or particularly surprising” given that police believed Fitzpatrick may have had a firearm and that he was seen ramming Guilfuchi’s cruiser, the report said.
“Under these circumstances, I conclude that, based on the circumstances he mistakenly but in good faith believed to exist, he subjectively and reasonably believed that deadly physical force was necessary to protect Officer Guilfuchi from serious physical injury or death,” Prescott wrote. “A reasonable police officer operating under the same set of circumstances might have done the same. Accordingly, I conclude that his use of deadly physical force was objectively reasonable.”
“In sum, I conclude that both officers’ use of deadly physical force was legally justified or otherwise not criminal in nature,” Prescott said. “Therefore, I and my office will take no further action on this matter.”
According to the report, the Infiniti Fitzpatrick was driving was later recovered after someone called the Hartford Police Department around 4 p.m. and said they noticed a “disturbance” coming from the vehicle. The driver stopped the Infiniti on Tredeau Street before two men got out and were picked up by another motorist, the report said.
The vehicle, which had extensive front end damage and bullet holes in it, was found to have been stolen from Dedham, Massachusetts, the report said. The license plate on the Infiniti belonged to a different vehicle, police found. The Infiniti was towed to the police station in East Hartford.
According to court records, Fitzpatrick was arrested in January on a warrant charging him in the incident with two counts each of first-degree reckless endangerment and risk of injury to a child and a single count each of attempted assault on a police officer, larceny of a motor vehicle and evading responsibility. He is being held on $99,000 bond while the charges remain pending in Manchester Superior Court, records show.
Smith was arrested by East Hartford police in February on charges of illegal use of a facsimile firearm, second-degree threatening and second-degree breach of peace, records show. He is free on a $100,000 bond and was expected to have a court appearance on Tuesday.