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April 21 (UPI) -- Connecticut's Office of Inspector General has charged a state trooper with fatally shooting a 19-year-old Black man two years ago. Inspector General Robert Devlin Jr. announced Wednesday that Connecticut State Trooper Brian North has been charged with manslaughter in the first degree with a firearm for the police-involved killing of Mubarak Soulemane on Jan. 15, 2020.
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North was released on $50,000 bond and is expected to appear in Milford Superior Court on May 3.
Soulemane was killed that January winter evening in West Haven after leading police on an extended car chase.
According to a 133-page report Devlin released concerning the case Wednesday, North with two other troopers were successful in bringing the chase to an end by blocking Soulemane who was driving a stolen 2012 Hyundai Sonata.
Shortly after completely the stop, North fired seven shots through the Hyundai's driver's side window, striking Soulemane who was sitting in the front seat.
An investigation into the shooting found that Soulemane had a knife in his hand when he was shot but "at the time trooper North fired his weapon, neither he nor any other persons was in imminent danger of serious injury or death," Devlin said in the report.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut said that while justice would be police never having killed Soulemane the announcement of charges against North "is a welcome step toward individual accountability."
"No family should ever have to lose a loved one to police violence, let along have to advocate for police to be held accountable afterward," Claudine Constant, ACLU of Connecticut public policy advocacy director, said in a statement.
According to the report, Soulemane, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 14, was found to be acting erratic and was reported missing to the police earlier that day by his brother after the two had an argument.
The report states that Soulemane then tried to buy an iPhone before failing an attempt to steal one from a display. He then jumped into a ride-share car that had come to the phone store to pick Soulemane up as a customer.
Inside the vehicle, Soulemane and the driver, Daniel Green, got into a confrontation and when Green pulled over and exited the car to get the attention of police, Soulemane jumped into the front seat and drove away, leading police on a high-speed chase that culminated in his death.
"No trooper ever intends to take the life of someone else; we don't have the desire to," Andrew Matthews, executive director of the Connecticut State Police Union, told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday, The New York Times reported. "And I don't think -- we don't think that was the intent in this case."
"Trooper North made a split-second decision during some very unusual and very difficult circumstances," Matthews said.
