Connecticut State Police have charged a local police officer with third-degree assault and intentional cruelty to persons after his body camera captured him repeatedly using his Taser on a suspect who had surrendered after a brief foot chase.
The officer, Nicholas David Kehoss was arrested Monday after state police detectives with the Western District Major Crime Squad informed him they had a warrant for his arrest.
Kehoss, 36, of Naugatuck, was processed at Troop A in Southbury and released on $50,000 bond, state police said. He is due to appear in state Superior Court in Waterbury on Nov. 8.
The officer’s body camera showed Kehoss used his Taser three times on a suspect in a robbery, including while the man was on the ground and pleading for him to stop.
Police previously identified the man as Jarell Day, 33, of Waterbury. The incident occurred after an attempted robbery at a Naugatuck Stop & Shop on Oct. 14.
in the arrest warrant affidavit, Connecticut State Police Detective Ferenc Bozso, of the Western District Major Crime Squad, described body and dashboard camera footage of the incident in detail.
Footage recovered from Naugatuck Police Detective John Williams’ body camera showed Day sitting in the driver’s seat of a tan sedan in a parking lot around 4:20 p.m. on Oct. 14 when he and two other occupants of the car were confronted by police, the affidavit said.
With the driver not heeding Williams’ orders to “shut it off,” the sedan struck Kehoss’ cruiser as it escaped onto the main road, according to the affidavit. Kehoss’ dash cam footage showed the sedan crashed a short distance away on a highway on-ramp, the affidavit said.
Footage recovered from Kehoss’ body camera showed he chased the sedan after his cruiser was struck, came upon the wreck and left his cruiser to run after a fleeing occupant, identified in the affidavit as Day. Kehoss ordered the man to stop before drawing, activating and aiming his Taser, the affidavit said.
The footage shows Kehoss first deployed the Taser as he ordered the man to get on the ground. He then used the Taser again to get Day to turn over on his stomach so his hands could be cuffed behind his back, the video shows. Kehoss then deployed the Taser a third time as Day was on his stomach but not yet handcuffed, the video shows.
Day repeatedly apologized to Kehoss and pleaded with him to stop using the Taser, according to the video. He later told detectives he did not resist and complied with Kehoss’ orders, the affidavit said.
Day was charged with attempted second-degree assault, third-degree robbery, assault on police, illegal possession of a weapon in a vehicle, second-degree larceny, reckless driving, operating under suspension and evading responsibility.
Naugatuck officials said Kehoss was placed on paid leave last week.
Kehoss has been an officer with the Naugatuck Police Department since 2011, according to the warrant for his arrest.
In 2021, the state Office of the Inspector General cleared Kehoss of wrongdoing in a shooting after he discharged his weapon three times at a fleeing suspect who drove at him.
