Suspect shot by West Hartford officer while fleeing in stolen car

A suspect was fatally shot by an officer in West Hartford on Tuesday while attempting to flee in a stolen car with the officer inside, according to police.

The incident began around 4:53 p.m. on Tuesday when West Hartford Police Department officers were traveling eastbound on New Britain Avenue behind a stolen motor vehicle, West Hartford Police Chief Vernon Riddick, Jr. said during a press conference Wednesday. In an attempt to make a stop, one of the officers deployed his stop sticks in the area of New Britain Avenue near New Park Avenue.

As the vehicle continued eastbound on New Britain Avenue, the officer returned to his cruiser, By the time the officer spun around, the reportedly stolen vehicle was involved in an accident at New Britain Avenue by South Street, Riddick said. Witnesses told police one of the suspect in the car was running eastward onto New Britain Avenue. Officers engaged in a foot pursuit and were able to locate the person, later identified as Lyle Solsbury, in the area of 1012 New Britain Ave.

According to Riddick, officers then received information from dispatch, other officers and witnesses that another suspect was headed toward Town Fair Tire at 980 New Britain Avenue. As the officer was responding, he reportedly saw the individual inside the car fighting with an employee inside the bay of business. The officer ordered the employee to step away, at which time he deployed his K-9, which entered the vehicle, Riddick said.

As the officer attempted to make the arrest, he reached inside the vehicle to grab his K-9. At that time, the individual reportedly put the vehicle in drive and drove off with the officer inside, according to Riddick. The vehicle then hit a police cruiser as it crossed onto New Britain Avenue with the officer still inside and struck a civilian vehicle that was traveling westbound on New Britain Avenue.

“Despite repeated efforts and orders to stop the vehicle, the individual did not,” Riddick said Wednesday. The officer then discharged his weapon, according to Riddick, and the vehicle crashed into a telephone pole.

Riddick said officers rendered aid to the individual and provided CPR immediately. West Hartford fire personnel and paramedics also responded to the scene. The individual was transported to an area hospital where they later died, according to police. Police did not identify the suspect.

“The Inspector General’s office is, at this time, attempting to make notifications and confirm the identity. I do not have that information right now,” Riddick said.

The officer involved was also taken to an area hospital with head injuries as well as a rib injury that were non-life-threatening, Riddick said. He was discharged on Tuesday evening.

Solsbury, a convicted felon with an extensive criminal record, was arrested and charged with interfering with an officer, larceny of a motor vehicle and conspiracy to commit larceny of a motor vehicle. He was held in lieu of a $250,000.00 surety bond pending his arraignment on Wednesday.

The shooting in West Hartford marked the fifth instance this year in Connecticut in which an officer opened fire on another person and the first involving a fatality in 2023, according to the Office of Inspector General.

Connecticut State Police and the Office of Inspector General will investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting, with the Inspector General making the final determination as to whether the officer’s use of deadly force was justified.

A state police spokesperson said their agency is only assisting in the investigation and deferred any inquiries on Wednesday to West Hartford police or the Inspector General.

“As many of you are aware this investigation is not being led by the West Hartford Police Department. It is being done by the Inspector General’s office and they were assisted by the Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crimes,” Riddick said Wednesday.

The Office of Inspector General was created as part of the Police Accountability Act enacted by the Connecticut General Assembly in 2020. In September 2021, the Criminal Justice Commission appointed retired State of Connecticut Judge Robert J. Devlin, Jr. to serve as the state’s first Inspector General.

Dr. John DeCarlo, director of the Master’s Program in criminal justice at the University of New Haven who retired as a police chief in Branford in 2011, said Connecticut was a leader in adopting the model by which an Inspector General conducts an independent investigation in instances involving deadly force. He did not have specific numbers to cite but said he has noticed anecdotally more and more states around the country using the same or a similar procedure since the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, which prompted nationwide protests against police brutality.

People demand transparency when an officer-involved shooting is reported and, in Connecticut, “they do get transparency,” DeCarlo said.

As for authorities releasing few details about what happened in West Hartford on Tuesday, DeCarlo said that is customarily part of the “legal investigative process.” The University of New Haven professor said releasing details prematurely in the investigative process could lead to authorities having to retract information that was later found to be false, which DeCarlo said could cause a “loss of public confidence” in the police.

“In my experience, there is usually a time lag,” DeCarlo said. “They can’t guess on anything like this.”

“I have a lot of faith in Riddick and Devlin to do what they have to do in a timely manner,” he said.

Reports concluding whether an officer was justified in using deadly force typically take more than a year.

The Office of Inspector General, which has subpoena powers, is tasked with investigating officer-involved shootings and any death reported while someone is in police or Department of Correction custody. In a report filed by Devlin in January, he said footage from body cameras and dashcams is usually required to be released within 96 hours, though he recommended the Connecticut General Assembly consider modifying this requirement for the “rare situations” where it could “pose problems,” specifically citing situations where the officer is injured.

Since January, Devlin’s office has assumed the investigations overseeing five officer-involved shootings in the towns of West Hartford, Manchester, Brooklyn, Bristol and Milford. With the exception of Milford — where an East Haven officer fired multiple times at a suspect and did not hit him — a person was shot and injured.