On May 3rd, 1971, twenty-three-year-old Hartford resident James McMillan was shot and killed by Bristol Police Officer Thur Hewitt while running away after being apprehended as a shoplifting suspect. After protests, Hewitt was suspended without pay because he had disobeyed the Bristol Police Department’s policy on deadly force, which is narrower than Hartford’s. The coroner’s report found Officer Hewitt criminally responsible for McMillan’s death, but the state’s attorney still decided not to prosecute. McMillan’s mother Leona sued Hewitt and the town of Bristol. There is no coverage of the outcome of the case, and it is safe to assume she lost, considering the failure of all similar cases during this time.

Efrain Gonzalez was killed with double-zero buckshot without provocation during a civil disturbance in July 1970. The coroner declared he had been shot by a policeman whose identity did not need to be discovered because he was not criminally responsible. The Gonzalez family filed a civil lawsuit against the city and members of the police force in 1971 and lost in 1975.

Officer Anthony Lombardi was in a car-turned-foot chase with nineteen-year-old Abraham Rodriguez. Lombardi shot and killed Rodriguez after cornering him in an alley. Lombardi was arrested for manslaughter, showered in public support, and then acquitted.

On March 31st, 1970, Officer David Quirk followed William Casey to his home after he ran a stop sign. Casey resisted arrest and attacked Officer Quirk with a pocketknife, and Quirk shot him four times in self-defense. Casey survived with serious injuries and was later convicted of aggravated assault and resisting an officer.

Hansley, nineteen, was shot and killed by officer Elden Thibodeau after stealing a purse on March 14th, 1970. Thibodeau had acted within city guidelines which permit police officers to shoot in order to apprehend fleeing felons. The killing led to wide community outrage and spurred a wave of organizing to investigate the Hartford Police Department’s use of deadly force.

Charles Jones, thirty three, was shot in the head by Officer Daniel Herbert shortly after 3 am on September 2nd, 1969. Officer Herbert claimed that Jones had been looting the nearby 5 and 10 store; four witnesses claim he was just standing there. Jones was a prominent community worker who served as chairman of Model Neighborhoods Inc. He survived the shooting with severe brain damage and paralysis of the right side of his body. He sued in 1973 and lost.