Fatal Shooting by Conn. Officer Ruled Justified

WETHERSFIELD, Conn. -- A Wethersfield police officer was justified when he fatally shot a man during a violent struggle for the officer's gun on a deserted, snowy street on Feb. 1, a state prosecutor determined in a lengthy report made public Monday.

State's Attorney Brian Preleski ruled that Officer Justin Lord acted within the law when he shot Samuel McLeod after McLeod attacked Lord during a traffic stop, grabbed at Lord's service weapon and tried to get the gun.

The struggle ended when Lord shot McLeod five times as the two were struggling for the gun outside of McLeod's Subaru and the police cruiser, both parked on Progress Drive at 10 p.m. McLeod's left hand was on the gun when Lord discharged it, Preleski said.

In his report, Preleski noted that the officer's microphone transmitted the entire confrontation and that the dashboard camera in the cruiser recorded some of it, although not the final struggle for the holstered gun.

McLeod, 26, of Stafford Springs, died of his wounds and was pronounced dead that night. Lord was placed on leave after the shooting but was allowed to return to work after six weeks.

Wethersfield Police Chief James Cetran said the state report confirmed the preliminary assessment by the town's police department that Lord acted appropriately.

"After the preliminary investigation ... I was pretty well convinced the officer here was truly acting to save his own life. I'm grateful he was able to do that," Cetran said Monday.

Police department spokesman Lt. Andrew Power said the department's administrative report on the incident, which is reviewing whether Lord followed all department policies and rules during the incident, is pending but nearly complete.

McLeod had just dropped his wife off at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks and apparently was in Wethersfield by accident, having getting lost while trying to reach the Webster concert hall in neighboring Hartford, Preleski wrote.

McLeod was a convicted felon with a record of burglary and narcotics cases, failed a sobriety test from Lord just prior to the struggle and appeared nervous and jittery to Lord, Preleski wrote. Tests found a crack pipe and a small amount of cocaine in McLeod's pants and evidence of cocaine in his system, Preleski wrote.

"Based on all of the evidence, the undersigned has concluded that Officer Justin Lord of the Wethersfield Police Department reasonably believed that it was necessary for him to use deadly force to defend himself from the imminent use of deadly force," Preleski wrote. "Accordingly, no further action will be taken by the Division of Criminal Justice."

Copyright 2011 - The Hartford Courant, Conn.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service