Manslaughter trial of Connecticut State Police Trooper Brian North: Jury deliberations underway

MILFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — The jury is now deliberating the case of Connecticut State Trooper Brian North, who faces a manslaughter charge in the 2020 shooting death of a 19-year-old man.

North, 33, pleaded not guilty in June 2022 to first-degree manslaughter with a firearm in the death of Mubarak Soulemane. The state inspector general concluded the shooting was not justified.

The judge instructed the jury to first consider the first-degree manslaughter with a firearm. The jurors can consider lesser charges of second-degree manslaughter with a firearm and criminally negligent homicide.

The jury got the case around 3:15 p.m. and deliberated until just before 4:30 p.m. Court will resume at 9 a.m. Thursday.

On Jan. 15, 2020, police said Soulemane displayed a 9-inch kitchen knife at an AT&T store in Norwalk and unsuccessfully tried to steal a cell phone. Police said he then assaulted Lyft driver Daniel Green and drove off in Green’s car when he got out, leading police on a 30-mile chase from Norwalk to West Haven.

Norwalk officers had ended the pursuit on Interstate 95 because of the high speed and heavy traffic and the fact that no violent crime occurred. State police continued the pursuit after receiving false information that the car theft was a carjacking.

Police boxed him in and said Soulemane would not drop his knife. That is when North shot and killed him.

The chase ended when Soulemane exited the highway, hit a civilian’s car and was boxed in by troopers and local police in West Haven. Police said the officers ordered him out of the car, but he refused.

State police body camera videos show a West Haven officer smashing out the passenger door window of the stolen vehicle before another trooper shoots Soulemane with a Taser, which didn’t work.

North then fired seven shots at close range into the driver’s window as Soulemane sat in the driver’s seat with the kitchen knife, according to investigators.

Soulemane’s mother, Omo Mohammed, and his sister, Mariyann Soulemane, testified that Soulemane had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

North, who testified in his own defense, told authorities he believed he was protecting police officers on the other side of the car from Soulemane and the knife, but state Inspector General Robert Devlin concluded none of the officers were in imminent danger and filed the first-degree manslaughter charge.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.