Connecticut officer found justified in fatal shooting of carjacking suspect

By SUSAN HAIGH The Associated Press

FILE - This image taken from dashboard Aug 8, 2023 video released from West Hartford Connecticut Police Department, shows West Hartford Police officer Andrew Teeter attempting to apprehend Mike Alexander-Garcia in a stolen vehicle, left. (West Hartford Connecticut Police Department via AP)[ASSOCIATED PRESS]

A Connecticut police officer who fatally shot a man as he tried to flee in a stolen vehicle while being attacked by a police dog was justified in using deadly force while inside the car, according to a report issued Thursday by the state’s Office of Inspector General.

It was both “reasonable and justified” for West Hartford Officer Andrew Teeter to fire five rounds into the torso of Mike Alexander-Garcia on Aug. 8, 2023, to “defend himself and others from what he reasonably believed to be a threat of serious injury or death,” Inspector General Robert J. Devlin, Jr. wrote in the report.

The document comes four months after the family of Alexander-Garcia filed a wrongful death lawsuit naming Teeter, the West Hartford police and the town as defendants. It alleges violations of Alexander-Garcia’s constitutional rights, state laws and police policies and procedures. The family has also called for a federal civil rights investigation of the department, alleging racial profiling was involved.

Lawyers for the family on Thursday released a statement saying they were “deeply disappointed” in the inspector general report and maintain Alexander-Garcia’s death was “completely unnecessary” and the result of “over-aggressive” police work.

“Had Officer Teeter made different decisions that day, Mike would still be alive. We know what Mike did that day. But it is the job of our police officers to mitigate danger and risk rather than increase it,” the lawyers said, noting they will “continue to seek justice and accountability on behalf of Mike and his family by all means possible.”

The chaotic and deadly 2023 confrontation occurred during the evening rush hour on a busy local street in the Hartford suburb. Police had received a report of a stolen vehicle. They used tire-deflation devices to try and stop it, but the vehicle kept moving before eventually crashing. Alexander-Garcia, who was inside, abandoned the car, tried unsuccessfully to take two occupied vehicles before running into a nearby car service center and getting into a Toyota RAV4 with the keys in the ignition.

Teeter sent the police dog into the vehicle through an open car window and ordered the dog to bite Alexander-Garcia. Teeter also got into the RAV4. But Alexander-Garcia, who began to drive off, ignored the bites, Teeter’s orders to stop and repeated threats to shoot and continued to drive away, the inspector general’s office determined.

Before he was shot, Alexander-Garcia is heard on Teeter’s body camera saying, “Let me out. Please. Please Officer,” according to a transcript included in the report.

The officer shot Alexander-Garcia while he was driving away recklessly, hitting Teeter’s cruiser, another vehicle and a stack of tires before crashing into a utility pole. Alexander-Garcia was treated at the scene and later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

The inspector general’s investigation determined it was “reasonable” for Teeter to deploy the dog and to get inside the vehicle himself. But the lawyers for Alexander-Garcia’s family said the actions were overly aggressive.

“Lifting a police dog into the car Mike was in and then jumping into the car created the situation that led Officer Teeter to shoot Mike five times,” according to their statement. “This was over-aggressive police work that led to tragic results.”