A Connecticut man was seen brutally attacking a police officer with a hammer on body cam
By: A Connecticut police officer was brutally assaulted by a hammer-wielding man, police said.
Middletown Police said authorities received a complaint about noise and broken glass on a residential street at 6:33 p.m. on Saturday, August 12.
Detective Karli Travis, who directs the Middletown Police Cadet Program and serves in the patrol department, was the first officer to respond to the call. She approached the resident on foot and police said they immediately noticed the suspect, 52-year-old Winston Tate, brandishing a blunt object.
In a news conference on Tuesday, Aug. 15, Middletown Police Department Chief Eric McCallister said Travis calmly asked Tate to drop the item, a metal hammer, on the ground.
He refused, although the officer repeatedly insisted that Tate do so.
“Could you please put that away?” Travis is heard saying quietly in body camera footage released by the Connecticut office of the Inspector General.
“NO!” Tate is heard barking back.
When Travis radios her colleagues for assistance, body cam footage shows Tate charging at them with a hammer.
Body camera footage shows violence erupts immediately as Tate attacks the cop and the couple start hitting each other.
Chief McCallister said the investigator tried to distance herself from her attacker and continued to tell the suspect to put the gavel down. Travis finally pulls out her pistol and quickly begins firing at Tate.
Body camera footage shows Winston Tate pushing Detective Karli Travis to the ground. Tate is seen with a hammer and Officer Travis is seen with her pistol. (The Office of the Inspector General in Connecticut)
Police said she was “fighting for her life” while Tate repeatedly hit her with a hammer.
“Stop!” Travis is heard yelling as Tate continues to hit her with the metal gun.
After Tate fired more shots at her attacker, she retreated to his home, authorities said. Backup officers arrived and quickly surrounded the apartment building, where Tate was immediately arrested.
He was taken to the hospital where he was treated. Detective Travis was also injured in the hammer attack and taken to the hospital, but was discharged later that evening with minor injuries.
Chief McCallister called her actions an “extreme act of heroism”.