At a press conference in his Pittsfield office Tuesday afternoon, DA Timothy Shugrue said the police killing of 27-year-old Biagio Kauvil, who was experiencing a mental health crisis when he was shot in the head on Jan. 7, was lawful. Shugrue said that after examining evidence, including state police ballistic reports and body cam footage, he has concluded Hinsdale Police Officer Jeremy Spratt acted in self-defense in the frenzied struggle that followed law enforcement breeching a locked door to confront Kauvil, who was holding a legal firearm at the time.
“Following the first firing of his service weapon, officer Spratt believed he heard another muffled shot, and [Hinsdale Police] Chief [Shawn] Boyne said, ‘I'm hit.’ The body camera footage audio only captured one muffled pop," said the DA. "This was later confirmed in the April 10 ballistics report. The recipient review of the ballistics report was imperative to the findings of this investigation. Officer Spratt also heard a Taser deployment at this time. Mr. Kauvil continued to struggle, and officers were unable to gain control of his arms. Officer Spratt fired a second round towards Mr. Kauvil, striking Mr. Kauvil in the head.”
Two officers — including Hinsdale Police Chief Shawn Boyne — were injured by friendly fire from Spratt’s first of two shots. The second shot left Kauvil dead.
“While the findings were non-criminal, I find it imperative to state that while there will be no criminal charges, the force investigation team did find considerable, which I agree with, concern regarding policies and the Hinsdale Police Department," said Shugrue. "I strongly recommend that the town of Hinsdale hire an investigator that is completely independent to the agency and the town to conduct a formal review of their internal policies and their applications to the events of Jan. 7.”
WAMC asked the DA about some of the major questions that his investigation leaves unresolved — namely why no mental health co-responders were on scene and about the pivotal decision by police to breech the locked door. Shugrue doubled down, saying the purview of his investigation was purely around the specific use-of-force issue, but he underscored his concern with the Hinsdale PD.
“I think there has to be an investigation into those policies and procedures and what they did. I want them to follow the Massachusetts Police Training standards," said the DA.
Shugrue noted a number of specific issues he had with how the Hinsdale PD handled the situation, saying he found their takedown method of Kauvil to be inappropriate. He also criticized Chief Shawn Boyne’s communication with responding officers from the Dalton Police Department, which has a mutual aid arrangement with Hinsdale.
“I can tell you that Officer Eichsedt did say, are we making a mental health call? A 959, it's called. Are we making a mental health call? The chief did not respond to that," said Shugrue. "So, there was these officers were put in that position.”
At a special town meeting on March 15, Hinsdale voters approved an administrative review of the police department.
Today happened to be Biagio’s mother Jen’s birthday. The DA’s office ascribed the unfortunate timing to a commitment to release the report as quickly as possible — especially after missing a self-imposed deadline for the findings set for the end of March.
“I think, if anything, maybe this gives her some relief that she now knows that there are issues, and we'll continue with Hinsdale and looking into that," said Shugrue. "I feel for them, and I understand he was a great young man, and I wanted to make sure that we could get this resolved as quickly as I could.”
WAMC spoke with Jen this afternoon and asked if she felt relief. She said no, absolutely not. And on her birthday, she was speechless.
