Slain CT Man's Family to Christie: 'Don't Talk About Our Son'

By BARBARA HEINS and TOM DAVIS (Patch Staff)

The family and the former boss of a congressional intern who was fatally stabbed on a train in Washington, are excoriating New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for invoking the slain young man’s name in a speech.

On Friday, the parents of Trumbull native Kevin Sutherland, Douglas and Terry Sutherland, issued a statement protesting Christie’s remarks. As did U.S. Rep. Jim Himes of Greenwich.

The 2016 presidential hopeful called for a “fresh approach” to drug addiction and fighting crime in his speech, according to The Hill. Christie referenced Kevin Sutherland’s death during a campaign speech on Thursday in Camden, NJ.

“The fact that Gov. Chris Christie would invoke my son’s name in a politically motivated speech just three days after our family laid him to rest shows that he cares little about the grief my family is feeling,” the Sutherland family told Hearst Connecticut Media, according to the report.

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Christie talked about how Sutherland was “a bright young man with a promising future ... And now all his parents can do is mourn,” according to the report.

“The reason the killer was on the train?” he was quoted in the report. “His charge got reduced to a misdemeanor — and he was released the day after being arrested.”

Himes, (D-4), called the reference “vile” and said in a statement that Christie was politicizing the death of Kevin Sutherland.

“Kevin Sutherland was a friend of mine,” Himes said of the 24-year-old killed on July 4 in Washington, D.C. “To use Kevin’s death to score political points is vile.” Himes said in his statement, “Christie has once again shown himself nothing more than a pure opportunist with no sense of decency and a severely distorted idea of right and wrong.”

He added, “ The fear mongering and thinly veiled racism evident in Christie’s speech reveal that he knew nothing about Kevin and his family or what they believed in, and he should be ashamed.”

Sutherland was stabbed to death on D.C.’s Metro system in what has been described as a botched robbery.

Related stories:

• U.S. Congressman Comforts Family of Slain Trumbull Native
• Herbst: Sutherland Made a Tremendous Mark
• Update: D.C. Teen Arrested for Murder of Former Intern For Rep. Jim Himes

Photo: Kevin Sutherland.