Black community leaders and family members of Steven “Stevie” Jones are reacting to news that the Hartford police officer who fatally shot the 55-year-old now faces manslaughter charges.
The victim’s sister, Audrey Jones, waited 77 days to hear what her family already felt: Former Hartford police officer Joseph Magnano was not justified in using lethal force against her brother, confirmed now by a report from Connecticut Inspector General Eliot Prescott.
“We, the Jones family, are pleased with the charges that have been brought against Officer Magnano in connection with my brother Stevie Jones' death,” Audrey Jones said at the NAACP’s Tuesday press conference.
Jones was a father of two and grandfather. Through North Carolina attorney Chance Lynch, his youngest daughter, Jessica Dalton, gave a statement to those gathered at the CT NAACP office in Hartford.
“Nothing could have prepared us for the pain of losing my father the way we did,” Dalton wrote. “He was not just another name in a report or another case number, he was a human being.”
Dalton said her life has been changed forever since the shooting in late February.
“There is an emptiness that cannot be explained in words,” she wrote. “I think about all the moments he will never get to experience watching his family grow, sharing laughs with us, giving advice, and simply being here.”
She asked the community members to keep in mind with news like her father’s death that “behind every case is a family forced to live with permanent loss.”
“No sentence handed down could ever bring my father back,” Dalton wrote. “No apology can undo the pain or restore the years stolen from us.”
Leaders respond in support, and opposition
National civil rights attorney Ben Crump entered the room Tuesday with a loud call-and-response.
“Justice for Stevie Jones!” he cried, and as the crowd echoed the statement, he put his arm around the shoulders of Jones’ sister, Audrey.
Even with the charges brought against Magnano, Crump said the fight is not over.
“We cannot conclude that today is justice,” Crump said. “It is but the first step in achieving justice. An arrest does not equal a conviction.”
Crump and other leaders referenced the 2005 case of a Hartford officer who was charged with manslaughter, but not convicted, and the fatal police shooting of Everard Walker on Capitol Avenue just a week before Jones was killed.
Corrie Betts is the president of the Greater Hartford NAACP branch. He criticized the officer’s decision to shoot Jones while responding to a mental health emergency.
“This was not help. This was not healing. And this was not de-escalation,” Betts said. “This was a man in crisis meeting a system that still often responds to Black pain with force.”
Former officer Joseph Magnano fired nine rounds at Jones, according to the inspector general’s report. Jones died days later from his injuries.
Hartford Police Union president James Rutkauski disagreed with the inspector general’s findings. Rutkauski said Jones had the ability to harm police and bystanders, and did not respond to efforts by other officers at de-escalation.
"It's a lawful, justified use of force,” Rutkauski said, “and now we just have to let this get worked out through the court system.”
Magnano is due to appear on first degree manslaughter charges in Hartford Superior Court on June 5. He was released on a $50,000 bond, which activists said should have been set higher.
“I have faith in God that there will be accountability and justice for Stevie Jones,” Audrey Jones said, thanking the community for their “prayers and support” at this time.
