Joseph Jackson
Joseph Jackson, 54, of Bristol, died in June 2025 after Wolcott police officers restrained him on a front porch. The Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide, listing cardiac arrhythmia following restraint, along with atherosclerotic heart disease, as causes. According to the Connecticut Office of Inspector General, officers held him prone with an officer's knee on his back for about 11 minutes, and he went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance before being pronounced dead at Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury. The inspector general found no criminality but said the prone restraint was perhaps the more likely cause of death and was contrary to Wolcott police policy.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by staff. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, citing cardiac arrhythmia after restraint with cocaine-induced delirium and heart disease, while the inspector general said the prone restraint was perhaps the more likely cause and contrary to Wolcott police policy.
Reported by: Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (medical examiner or coroner); Connecticut Office of Inspector General (outside investigators).