© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Berkshire DA: findings from investigation into Pittsfield police killing will be delivered to Estrella family by end of month

The door of the Berkshire District Attorney's office.
Josh Landes
/
WAMC

The Berkshire District Attorney tells WAMC that her office’s findings from a criminal investigation into the Pittsfield, Massachusetts police shooting of a young man in March will be presented to his family by the end of July.

22-year-old Miguel Estrella was shot to death by Officer Nicholas Sondrini during a 911 call on March 25th, prompting local protest and calls for justice and reform. While witnesses, Estrella’s family, and official accounts maintain he was experiencing a mental health crisis, an internal Pittsfield Police report said he did not qualify as a person in crisis and exonerated Sondrini of any responsibility for the killing.

DA Andrea Harrington has been pursuing a criminal investigation into the incident.

“We have a draft of our facts section that we're finalizing for our findings of fact and we are currently drafting our legal findings," she told WAMC. "We're pulling together the entire investigation. We've gotten certain things translated into Spanish for Mr. Estrella’s family, and we're putting everything together and we will definitely be sharing that with the family first.”

Harrington says the report will be delivered before August.

Josh Landes has been WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief since February 2018, following stints at WBGO Newark and WFMU East Orange. A passionate advocate for Western Massachusetts, Landes was raised in Pittsfield and attended Hampshire College in Amherst, receiving his bachelor's in Ethnomusicology and Radio Production. His free time is spent with his cat Harry, experimental electronic music, and exploring the woods.
Related Content