Inspector General finds CT trooper justified in firing at man armed with knife during eviction

The Connecticut Office of Inspector General has found that a state police trooper was justified when he fired his gun at a man who was armed with a knife and began advancing toward police as he was being evicted from his apartment in Brooklyn last May.

Inspector General Robert Devlin Jr. released a report Tuesday concluding that Trooper Romello Lumpkin acted as any reasonable police officer would when he fired one round at Byron Harvey on May 9, 2023, after speaking with Harvey for nearly 30 minutes while trying to de-escalate things.

Harvey, who was 59 at the time and armed with a military-style knife, later told investigators he intended to harm at least one of the troopers in his apartment and that he was trying to commit suicide by cop, according to Devlin’s report.

Devlin concluded that Lumpkin “fired his handgun because he honestly believed that he” and a sergeant on scene “faced the imminent use of deadly physical force against them by Byron Harvey.”

“This belief was reasonable because a reasonably trained police officer in the same circumstances would have believed the same thing,” Devlin wrote. “Trooper Lumpkin further honestly believed that firing his weapon was necessary to stop the threat posed by the threatened knife attack. This belief was also reasonable because a reasonably trained police officer would have shared the belief that deadly force was necessary.”

According to the report, a Connecticut state marshal and two animal control officers went to Harvey’s apartment at 29 Tiffany St. around 9:15 a.m. to serve eviction papers. Authorities were aware that Harvey had a pit bull that had reportedly been aggressive in the past.

Using a key from the landlord, the marshal opened the door, but the dog could not be controlled. The marshal then requested a Connecticut State Police trooper respond to assist.

Trooper Meagen Yeung responded to the apartment just before 9:40 a.m. and told Harvey through the partially open door that he needed to leave the unit, the report said. Harvey refused to leave and threatened to release his dog, Devlin wrote.

Yeung requested backup when authorities entered the unit and found that Harvey was armed with a large knife, the report said.

Connecticut inspector general releases body cam footage of officer-involved shooting

When Lumpkin arrived, he entered the unit and found Harvey holding a knife in the dining room, while Yeung and the animal control officers were in the kitchen, Devlin wrote. One of the officers said Harvey had threatened to stab him.

Lumpkin instructed Yeung to secure the other entrance to the apartment while he began persuading Harvey to put the knife down and get the dog under control. According to the report, Harvey made suicidal comments suggesting Lumpkin had to shoot him and ultimately sat down in the dining room with his dog near him and a shopping cart between him and police.

When Sgt. Brian Lovell arrived he took over the de-escalation talks with Harvey, who was about 12 feet away. During this exchange he told police, “You’re going to have to shoot me,” body camera footage from the incident shows. He followed up that statement with, “If you don’t, I’m going to get at least one of you.”

“We don’t want to hurt you, we don’t want you to hurt us,” one of the troopers told Harvey.

Soon after, Harvey stood up, moved the cart away from his path to police and advanced toward the troopers as he raised his arm with the knife, the footage shows. He was told multiple times to put the knife down before Lovell discharged a taser as Lumpkin simultaneously fired one round at him, striking his abdomen, body cams show.

“I was very concerned about the possibility of an aggressive dog coming at us and having to deal with that as well as a knife attack in a small, confined space with no avenue of retreat,” Lumpkin wrote in his statement to investigators.

“I now yelled for Byron to put the knife down as did Sgt. Lovell,” Lumpkin wrote. “When Byron refused and advanced, fearing for my life and the life of Sgt. Lovell, I fired one shot.”

“The investigation establishes that Trooper Romello Lumpkin used deadly force against Byron Harvey to stop Harvey’s attempted knife attack,” Devlin wrote. “I therefore conclude that Trooper Lumpkin’s use of force was justified under Connecticut law.”

Once he was shot, troopers immediately provided medical attention to Harvey, who was taken to Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam and later airlifted to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was treated for the gunshot wound and underwent other procedures while hospitalized. A bullet fragment in his spine was not removed.

Harvey told investigators at the hospital he previously served in the military and could not afford to pay his bills, as he collected between $1,300 and $1,400 a month on disability, the report said. He also said he had nowhere else to go and that he “wanted to die,” according to Devlin.

Harvey told investigators he previously tried to commit suicide several times and that when he stood up with the knife he “just wanted to get it over,” the report said. He also confirmed he intended to harm “at least one” of the troopers.

“One quick shot to the head would have done it,” he said, according to the report.

Harvey was released from the hospital on June 16 and extradited to Connecticut to face charges of attempted first-degree assault, second-degree threatening and other offenses. He is being held on $150,000 bond while those charges remain pending in Danielson Superior Court, records show.