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Danbury officer, under investigation for shooting this month, cleared in deadly 2018 shooting

The State's Attorney investigating the December police-involved shooting in Danbury has issued a report.  Richard Colangelo of the Stamford/Norwalk District determined that Officer Alex Relyea was justified in his use of deadly force upon Paul Arbitelle.  He says Relyea believed the use of deadly force was necessary to defend himself from the imminent use of deadly physical force by Arbitelle. 

The investigation determined that Relyea acted in conformance with the Danbury Police Department Procedures and Policies and Connecticut law.  Colangelo concluded that the use of such force was both reasonable and justified under the circumstances.

The Division of Criminal Justice will take no further action with respect to the use of force in this case.

Relyea and Officer Regina Guss were working patrol on December 29th when they responded to 33 Rocky Glen Road for a report of an intoxicated person, identified as Arbitelle.  He left the scene and the officer, with Relyea's K9 partner Gunner, proceeded to the Glen Apartments a short distance away, to Arbitelle’s mother's apartment. 

Officer Relyea and Officer Guss state that they had previous encounters with Paul Arbitelle where he was volatile and combative with officers.  Officer Relyea noticed that the two Officers dispatched to this incident had very little road experience in the City of Danbury and were likely unfamiliar with Arbitelle’s extremely violent history towards police and citizens. He notified dispatch that he would be responding to this call, believing it was necessary to have more than two officers on the scene for officer safety reasons

No cameras in the Glen Apartments complex cover Unit #73 or of the surrounding apartments so the incident was not captured on video.

When he opened the door, Arbitelle was seen tensing his arms and shoulders in what was described as an aggressive fighting posture. Officer Relyea spoke first and said something like, “Is that how this is going to go?” Arbitelle immediately responded by saying something like, “yeah, it is.” Arbitelle then quickly raised a knife with his right hand directly in front of his face and twisted his wrist, which moved the knife briefly so Officer Relyea could see the reflection from the metal blade.

Officer Relyea reported that Arbitelle kept eye contact with him and kept the knife displayed while trying to open the outer door with his other hand. While attempting to open the door, Officer Relyea took several steps backward and called dispatch on his radio informing them of the party having a knife and requesting additional units. Also during that time, Officer Relyea gave several clear and loud commands for Arbitelle to drop the knife and drew his assigned duty pistol from his holster and pointed it toward Arbitelle. At one point Officer Relyea warned Arbitelle that he would use deadly force if he did not follow his commands.

Seeing Arbitelle exit the apartment with knife in hand and advance toward Officer Relyea, Officer Guss deployed her TASER, which proved ineffective. 

Arbitelle's blood alcohol content at the time of the autopsy was .18 percent. One bullet perforated the liver and right kidney, one entered the lateral lower chest and the last entered the chest cavity and exited the left lateral chest.

Linda Arbitelle said that Paul was arguing on the phone and said “That’s how you want it”, or, “That’s how it’s going to be” or words to that effect. She heard a jingling noise, recognized it as the silverware drawer, but did not see anything in his hand as he passed.  Paul then walked to the door and opened it. Linda Arbitelle then felt an impact on the right side of her stomach, saw a form and asked, “Why did you shoot me”?  She remembers asking the police, twice, to call her daughter so she could get her dog, Fred.

Charles Pickel, the caller who reported Paul Arbitelle to police, noted that he and Arbitelle exchanged words shortly after Christmas.  He believe Arbitelle was intoxicated and saw the handle of a large hunting knife sticking out of his backpack.  Pickel had seen him with the knife before.  Arbitelle reportedly said to him “I’ll be back, I’ll take care of it and that will be the end of it tonight”.  Pickel said in a statement that he believed Arbitelle would be back to harm him, his family or his property and called police.

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