Manchester officer justified in shooting man armed with knife in 2023, CT inspector general says
The Connecticut Office of Inspector General has found that a Manchester police officer who shot a man who advanced toward her while armed with a knife was justified in her use of deadly force.
Inspector General Robert Devlin Jr. released a report Wednesday that included his findings that Officer Haylee Ouellette of the Manchester Police Department acted “objectively reasonable” when she fired her weapon multiple times at Joseph Diloreto during a domestic incident on July 16, 2023, outside an apartment in Manchester.
“Based on the facts developed during the investigation, I have determined that Officer Ouellette used deadly force to defend herself from what she reasonably believed to be the threat of serious injury or death,” Devlin wrote. “Accordingly, I find such use of force to be objectively reasonable and justified.”
During the investigation, authorities interviewed Ouellette, Diloreto while he was in the hospital and his friend who initially called the police. They also examined evidence at the scene and reviewed Ouellette’s body camera footage.
According to the report, Diloreto was staying with a friend at her apartment on North Main Street after her brother had died a few weeks prior. He told investigators he was there to support her.
The friend called 911 just after 6:30 p.m. and told dispatchers that Diloreto, who was 58 at the time, was acting “out of his mind” as he was losing his mother and was not “able to deal with it…,” Devlin wrote. Diloreto’s friend said he was having mental health issues and had been drinking.
According to the report, Diloreto could be heard on the 911 call yelling in the background.
Ouellette responded to the apartment alone and, as she approached the door, Diloreto could be heard shouting, her body camera footage shows.
Once Diloreto sees the officer, he tells her to come into the apartment and motions with his hand for her to enter. As Ouellette steps inside, Diloreto immediately starts shouting expletives toward her, the footage shows.
Ouellette swiftly approaches and puts her hand up, telling him to stop shouting, the footage shows.
Diloreto almost immediately becomes physically confrontational and starts pushing her away while continuing to shout expletives, the bodycam shows. According to Devlin’s report, he also threatened to kill Ouellette.
Ouellette grabs Diloreto’s arm briefly before backing away and asking him if he wants to be tasered, the bodycam shows. After drawing her taser, Diloreto calls for her to shoot him multiple times.
Ouellete deployed her taser but it was not effective. She then retreats outside and draws her firearm, the footage shows.
As Diloreto approaches the door Ouellette can be heard telling him to drop a knife and radioing in that “he’s got a knife in his hand,” the footage shows. She told investigators in her statement that she could initially see that Diloreto had something in his hand before realizing at one point during the chaos that it was a knife between 6 and 8 inches long.
Diloreto opens and closes the apartment front door multiple times as Ouellette screams numerous times for him to put the knife down and threatens to shoot him, her bodycam shows. Diloreto then exits the apartment and advances toward Ouellette as she continues to shout for him to drop the knife, the footage shows. As she backs away she shoots at him multiple times.
Despite the shots, Diloreto continues advancing toward Ouellette and can be heard saying “Hit me, hit me, hit me.” Ouellette fires her gun multiple times more before Diloreto drops to the ground, the footage shows.
According to Devlin’s report, Diloreto was shot in the upper left leg.
In total, Ouellette fired about eight shots during the incident, Devlin wrote. Investigators found that the slide on her gun had jammed at one point during the altercation.
“Officer Haylee Ouellette confronted a volatile situation when she responded to the domestic call…,” Devlin wrote in his findings. “Joseph Diloreto was highly agitated and under the influence of drugs and alcohol.”
Devlin said Diloreto ignored Ouellette’s “repeated commands to stop and put down the knife.”
“When he began to close the distance between himself and Officer Ouellette, while still holding the knife, she discharged her firearm several times, striking Diloreto once,” Devlin wrote.
“I have determined that Officer Ouellette’s use of deadly force was based on her belief that she faced an imminent knife attack from Diloreto,” Devlin concluded. “I have further determined that such belief would be shared by a reasonable police officer in the same circumstances. Accordingly, I find the use of deadly force to be objectively reasonable and justified.”
After the shooting, Ouellette immediately called for an ambulance for Diloreto, who was taken to Hartford Hospital.
He spoke to investigators while handcuffed to a hospital bed and said he did not remember much about the incident, Devlin wrote. Diloreto told authorities that he was “shot for no reason” upon walking out of the apartment and that he blacked out afterward, according to the report.
A toxicology screening later showed he had cocaine, fentanyl and alcohol in his system, the report said. His blood alcohol content was 0.319, according to Devlin.
Diloreto was discharged from the hospital on July 18, 2023, and arrested by Manchester police on charges of attempt to commit first-degree assault, second-degree threatening and assault on a police officer. He is free on a $250,000 bond while the charges remain pending in Hartford Superior Court, records show.
