The Connecticut Office of Inspector General has determined that a Bridgeport police officer was justified in shooting Dyshan Best, a 39-year-old armed man, in the back last March, but new details uncovered by the office raise questions about how the police department responded in the critical half-hour after Best was shot.
The Inspector General, which reviewed the March 2025 police shooting in detail, ruled that Bridgeport Officer Yoon Heo was justified when he fired two shots at Best, who was carrying a 9 mm handgun as police chased him through a gas station parking lot and into nearby a junkyard just off of Kossuth Street.
One bullet ripped through his back and lacerated part of his liver and kidney. He later died from his injuries.
But the report notes that it took nearly 30 minutes for Best to be transported by ambulance to the hospital, because another Bridgeport officer who participated in the foot chase took the first ambulance that arrived on the scene, forcing emergency responders to treat Best’s wounds for an additional 10 minutes as he lay on the pavement.
Records reviewed by the Inspector General show the first ambulance arrived at the scene around 6 p.m., shortly after the shooting was reported, and the paramedics in that ambulance had been told to expect a gunshot victim.
But instead of that ambulance transporting Best to Bridgeport Hospital, the report states, police instructed the ambulance crew to transport Officer Erin Perrotta, who was suffering from what was classified as a “mild panic attack.” They then called another ambulance several minutes later.
According to records from the ambulance company, officers at the scene instructed the ambulance crew to “hurry up and take their partner.” Those notes also indicate that, on the way to the hospital, Perrotta declined any type of medical treatment.
“I am fine. I just needed to get out of here,” Perrotta said, according to the ambulance records.
A lawyer for Best’s family did not return phone calls for this story. And the Bridgeport Police Department did not immediately respond to the findings in the report.
Bridgeport residents responded to the report with a mix of frustration and sadness.
“I think the community is trying to respect the family during this difficult time. But people are heartbroken and tired of feeling like this is yet another one of our Black men from the community lost,” Bobbi Brown, the President of the Greater Bridgeport NAACP, said. “Many believe this situation could have been handled differently. A father, a son, a brother — a life was lost. As community leaders, we want more, and we are hurt and exhausted by these repeated tragedies.”
“The community is devastated by the decision,” added Shaenna Taylor, a community advocate with Bridgeport Stronger Together. “It’s left our city confused and grieving, because we were hoping for accountability that would begin to heal. We respect the process, but we’re not finished … we’ll keep organizing until there’s real change that reflects the value of Dyshan’s life.”
Jazmarie Melendez, a former Bridgeport city council member whose brother Jayson Negron was also killed by Bridgeport police in 2017, said the decision to place an officer — who had no physical injuries — in the ambulance was a major failure on the part of the police department.
“Dyshan was left bleeding on the pavement while he was shot in the back, and that initial ambulance was given to this officer, who said she was having an anxiety attack but declined any medical attention,” Melendez said.
“In my opinion, that’s complete medical neglect,” she added. “What that shows is that the system of policing cares about protecting themselves, not the community. And when they inflict harm, their issue is not rooted in ensuring that medical attention is given. Instead, it’s about getting themselves out of that situation.”
The report from the Inspector General doesn’t state whether the delay with the ambulance contributed to Best’s death. But it makes it clear that the decision to put an officer into the first ambulance delayed Best reaching the hospital by roughly 12 minutes.
Footage from police body cameras shows that Best was able to speak to officers for several minutes after he was shot, and he told them that he was struggling to breathe. And according to the report, doctors reported that Best had a pulse when he arrived at the emergency room.
Even so, Best died a little more than an hour later, while he was in surgery.
His death sparked several protests throughout Bridgeport, including outside the hospital the night of the shooting.
In the aftermath, Darnell Crosland, an attorney representing Best’s family, also questioned whether Best was carrying a handgun, as police had reported.
In several interviews, Crosland claimed that officers were not justified in shooting Best because he was carrying a vape pen, not a weapon.
The Inspector General’s office determined through body camera images and video surveillance footage from a nearby gas station that Best pulled out a 9 mm pistol as he was fleeing police, who were called after a gun was displayed during a fight nearby.
The Inspector General noted that Best had a criminal record, which prohibited him from legally possessing a weapon and said that Best could have faced several years in prison if officers had found the weapon on him during the traffic stop.
The footage that the Inspector General reviewed shows Best holding the weapon in his right hand just before he was shot by Heo. The images also show a small portion of the weapon where the serial number had been filed off.
“Some in the community have argued that, at the moment he was shot, Best was unarmed and holding only a vape device in his right hand,” the Inspector General’s office wrote. “Indeed, an attorney representing the estate of Best recklessly suggested at a press conference on April 9, 2025, that Best was unarmed and raised the specter that officers from the Bridgeport Police Department planted a weapon at the scene. The evidence shows otherwise.”
The fact that Best was shot in the back as he was fleeing police added to criticism of the police department after the shooting. But the Inspector General said the fact that the barrel of the handgun was pointed back at Heo just before the shooting was enough justification for the officer to open fire.
In a statement that was compiled more than a month after the shooting, Heo reported that he was forced to make a snap decision after he saw the handgun in Best’s hand. And he emphasized that he feared for his own safety.
“In retrospect I cannot think of any reason Best would retrieve his gun and point it toward me other than to threaten or use deadly force to escape. I certainly had no opportunity to provide a warning or take alternative action. At that given moment, I feared that Best was going to fire his weapon, shooting me or others in the area,” Heo said.
The Inspector General agreed with that assessment of the situation, and the office determined that Heo acted appropriately.
“It is troubling that Best was shot in the back while running from Officer Heo,” the Inspector General wrote. “But that reality is only part of the story. He was also pointing a pistol at Heo and could have easily fired one or more rounds at him while running away.”
“This is a tragic situation,” the report added. “But the tragedy should not be compounded by attempting to impose criminal liability on a police officer who was forced to make an almost instantaneous determination whether Best’s movement of his right arm and hand with a firearm in it posed a serious risk to the officer.”
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
