New Haven cop arrested in gunplay incident denies being there
NEW HAVEN — One of the police officers arrested for off-duty and possibly alcohol-fueled gunfire repeatedly denied being anywhere near State Street at the time of the shooting, police said.
But the state forensic lab confirmed five shell casings recovered near the corner of State and Clark streets were fired from the .40-caliber department handgun issued to Lawrence Burns, 38.
In all, three police officer were on paid leave and facing criminal charges in the April 1 incident outside Christopher Martins restaurant.
“You need to come back to State Street because we need to talk about what happened,” Sgt. Steve Teague told Burns in a cell phone call about 15 minutes after the incident.
The three officers were present when on-duty officers first arrived but left while the officers were speaking to witnesses.
“Naw, I wasn’t on State Street, Sarge,” Burns said. Teague asked him several more times.
“I’m going to ask you again, were you on State Street 10 minutes ago?”
“No, no. I was on State Street maybe an hour and (a) half ago,” Burns said.
The conversation didn’t last much longer. Teague asked Burns where he was. Was he home? Was he heading home? He didn’t get a straight answer, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Before he hung up, Teague said, “If that’s how you want to handle it, that’s fine
Burns and Officer Charles Kim, 35, both are charged with firing weapons just after closing time outside the popular State Street bar. Officer Krzysztof Ruszczyk, 31, didn’t fire a weapon but was charged with interfering with police.
All three were released after signing a written promise to appear in court.
Court records provided the most detailed account of the event yet. Officers arrived at about 2:40 a.m. and were flagged down by two witnesses who said people were shooting at the corner. While they were speaking to one officer, another on-duty patrolman approached the three off-duty officers a block down.
“It’s nothing. It’s 55s,” Burns allegedly told the officer, using the police code for fireworks.
The on-duty officer told them to stay there and drove to the witnesses to get a description of the shooters. In the interim, police said, Burns drove off.
“That’s the guy who was shooting and (you’re) letting him go,” the witness said as a yellow sports car sped off.
Despite also being told to stay, Ruszczyk and Kim also left in a vehicle., police said.
In the next half hour, Burns called an on-duty officer several times asking what was happening.
“This incident is not going away, you need to come back, you need to call Ruszczyk, you guys need to come back here,” the officer recalled telling Burns.
Detectives recovered six shell casings at the scene, one from a .380-caliber pistol and five others from a .40-caliber.
Under order, the three officers turned in the guns, ammunition and badges later that afternoon. One of Burns’ magazines was missing seven rounds of ammunition. A day later, Kim surrendered a .380-caliber handgun.
On Thursday, the same day police secured arrest warrants for the three officers, a forensic technician confirmed for police that the shell casings recovered at the scene and been fired from the .380-caliber belonging to Kim and the .40-caliber issued to Burns.
The three men are due in court on April 20.
Had enough? Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal
hearings into the police problem in America.
Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a
permanent DOJ office on Police
Misconduct.
