Hamden To Settle Lawsuit With Woman Injured In Police Shooting

HAMDEN, CT — Hamden has reached a settlement agreement with the woman who was seriously injured when former Hamden Police Officer Devin Eaton fired several shots at the vehicle that she was a passenger in, according to WTNH News 8.

Stephanie Washington, who was 22 at the time, suffered a fractured pelvis and spine in the 2019 shooting in New Haven, the New Haven Independent previously reported. She filed a federal lawsuit against the town in 2020.

WTNH News 8 reports terms of the settlement haven’t been released, and the agreement is expected to be approved in early April.

Eaton was arrested by Connecticut State Police in October 2019 and was initially charged with first-degree assault and two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment.

The arrest stemmed from an incident that began unfolding around 4:20 a.m. on April 16, 2019, when Hamden Police received a 911 call about a newspaper delivery man being robbed at a Hamden gas station on Arch Street by a suspect in a red Honda Civic. The clerk told police that the suspect pulled a gun on the delivery man, asked him for money, and was also harassing a second customer.

A vehicle matching the description was found near Dixwell Avenue and Argyle Street. Eaton and Yale University Police Officer Terrance Pollock both were on the scene around 4:30 a.m. and multiple shots were fired at the Civic. The passenger, Washington, was shot and seriously injured during the incident.

Washington was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital for treatment of serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said at the time.

The driver, Paul Witherspoon, wasn't injured in the incident and was taken to the Hamden Police Department for questioning. At the time of the shooting, neither Witherspoon nor Washington was in possession of a gun, according to the state attorney's office.

An investigation found that Eaton fired 13 shots in the direction of the Civic, with the last two fired with his arm extended behind him as he fled on Argyle Street seeking cover. Pollock, who fired three shots, sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot "graze" wound to his right calf, which was determined to be the result of "friendly fire," according to state police. He was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital and was treated and released on the same day. Pollock was not charged in the incident.

An investigation by the state’s attorney’s office found that Eaton's actions were not "objectively reasonable" and were unjustified.

Eaton pleaded guilty in January 2022 to one count of first-degree assault. He was sentenced last May to three years of probation with no prison time. Eaton was ordered to perform 150 hours of community service per year for those three years. Under the terms of the plea deal with the state’s attorney, he was allowed to seek no prison time in return for giving up the ability to become a cop again, the New Haven Independent previously reported.