When a Canterbury man, showing signs of experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot to death by two police officers in 2015, then-state Sen. Bob Giuda took a hard look at the event and concluded it was a needless tragedy.

Hagen Esty-Lennon died from gunshot wounds after two Haverhill police officers shot him on the roadside in Bath on July 6, 2015. Esty-Lennon, who was holding a knife, lunged at the officers just seconds before they discharged their weapons.

Esty-Lennon had rammed his car into a traffic control barrier, which was what brought police to the scene.

The state Attorney General’s Office, which investigates all officer-related shootings in the Granite State, concluded “the officers could reasonably believe that [Esty-Lennon] posed a threat of imminent use of deadly force. Therefore, [the officers’] use of deadly force against Mr. Hagen Esty-Lennon was legally justified.”

Today, Giuda does not disagree with the AG’s finding, but feels there’s a bigger point to consider.

“All the AG investigated was whether it was it a lawful shooting under the police self-defense statutes. But we have to go beyond that,” said Giuda.

Last year, the Legislature passed a bill, spearheaded by Giuda, which provides $1.3 million to enable at least one officer from every law enforcement agency in the state to attend a 40-hour training course in mental health awareness and de-escalation training.

Called Critical Incident Training, the weeklong course is designed to better equip first responders to recognize signs and symptoms of mental illness, provide them with the skills to effectively de-escalate situations and make appropriate referrals to community mental health services. The aim of CIT is to ensure the safety of individuals with mental illness, first responders and the general public. As of the first of the year about 2,900 police officers — or 16% of law enforcement personnel statewide — had completed the CIT program. New police officers going through the police academy receive training in dealing with a mental health crisis situation, but that training is not as intensive as CIT.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 60% of police shootings in New Hampshire involve someone who has a known mental health condition. That statistic was one of the key findings contained in a series of stories about police shootings published by the Concord Monitor in 2021.

“I was deeply troubled by the fatal shootings by police. It bothered me that it was becoming a pattern,” Giuda said.

He said he found the fatal shooting of Esty-Lennon especially troubling.

Esty-Lennon had been involved in a traffic accident on Route 302. According to the Attorney General’s report on the incident, when officers arrived on the scene, Esty-Lennon was walking along the side of the road. The officers ordered Esty-Lennon to show his hands. At first he complied, but then put a hand in his pocket and pulled out a knife. The officers ordered him to drop the knife. When Esty-Lennon failed to do so, one of the officers shouted that if Esty-Lennon did not drop the knife they would shoot him. One of the officers then drew his taser. Esty-Lennon started walking, then running away from the officers. The officer with the taser ran after Esty-Lennon while the other officer “provided cover with his firearm.” Suddenly, Esty-Lennon stopped, turned around, and “charged at the officers brandishing his knife.” The officer who was aiming his taser at Esty-Lennon dropped the weapon and drew his gun. Seconds later, with Esty-Lennon still charging toward the officers, and ignoring repeated orders to stop, both officers “began firing at Esty-Lennon.” He was fatally wounded and pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The medical examiner found that Esty-Lennon had six gunshot wounds to his head and torso.

Giuda said that in his view the report showed the officers made a critical mistake when they first encountered Esty-Lennon.

“They should have shot him with the taser when he was running away from them,” he said.

As Giuda sees it, while Esty-Lennon’s death was legally justified, it was unnecessary.

Beyond the death of Esty-Lennon, the event also almost certainly had a major impact on the officers.

“If you kill somebody, something changes,” Giuda said of the trauma they experienced. “If we can, we want to avoid the lethality aspect” of policing.

He believes that CIT will not only give officers the tools to be more effective when dealing with people in emotional distress, but also make them more aware just how mental health workers on mobile rapid response teams can provide vital assistance in dealing with someone in crisis.

“Police don’t have the tools in their toolkit to deal as effectively with people in these kinds of situations,” Giuda said.

Susan Stearns, executive director of NAMI-NH, has said she doesn’t want police to become the “de facto responders” to people in mental health crisis. But they are often the only emergency responders who can get to a scene quickly, especially in rural areas.

Giuda thinks consideration should be given to creating a reciprocal arrangement of resources. This would assemble specially-trained first responders who can respond to mental health crisis calls in smaller communities lacking the depth of professional resources as more populated areas.

“My hope is they would set up a mutual aid-type of arrangement, like we have for police and fire,” Giuda said.

In addition to funding for CIT, Giuda’s bill also created a committee to study establishing a mental health incident review board to thoroughly analyze mental health aspects of incidents involving police deadly force.

During a series of meetings last fall, that study committee heard testimony from mental health advocates and law enforcement leaders. They ultimately issued a report recommending the Legislature create a mental health incident review board, managed within the Department of Health and Human Services, under strict confidentiality rules to protect victims and their families. The group would be charged with investigating the circumstances surrounding a police killing of a person in mental distress, including what services were available to the victim, as well as how the officer engaged with them before using lethal force.

The creation of a formal review committee isn’t included in any bills filed publicly for the current legislative session.

Giuda sees the role of a panel as exploring weakness in training or gaps in the system and to make improvements in procedures.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.]]>