The Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Ansonia-Milford is investigating the death of a West Haven man who died while in the custody of the Connecticut Department of Correction on March 21, 2019, at the Community Correctional Center in New Haven.
According to the preliminary investigation, Carl R. Talbot, age 30, was placed in restraints at approximately 6:45 a.m. after being non-compliant. He was found unresponsive in his cell at approximately 8:57 a.m. and was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital, St. Raphael Campus, where he was pronounced dead at 9:40 a.m.
The Connecticut State Police Central District Major Crime Squad responded to the scene and assumed the investigation. Mr. Talbot had been remanded to custody of the Department of Correction by his parole officer two days before his death.
An autopsy was conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which certified the cause of death as “sudden death due to physical struggle with restraint, atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease and morbid obesity” and the manner of death as homicide.
The investigation into the death of Mr. Talbot has been assigned to State’s Attorney Margaret E. Kelley of the Ansonia-Milford Judicial District, in accordance with state statutes that require such investigations to be assigned to a State’s Attorney from a judicial district other than that where the incident occurred. (New Haven is in the Judicial District of New Haven).
State’s Attorney Kelley said:
“We extend our condolences to Mr. Talbot’s family on their tragic loss. The State’s Attorney’s Office will be in contact with the family to assure that they are kept aware of the progress of the investigation, the purpose of which by statute is to determine the circumstances of the death and whether any use of force was appropriate under the law.”
“It is my intent to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation. In determining what information will be released and when, I will balance the needs of the investigation with the public’s right to know what happened. It is my intention to complete this investigation and determination as soon as possible, but it also must be noted that these are painstakingly thorough investigations that do require time so it is not possible at this time to give any estimate of when the case will be concluded.”
Future updates will occur when deemed appropriate due to the investigation and in the public interest.