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Boston Globe
02-07-2025
- Boston Globe
Pawtucket police release edited videos in shooting of mentally disabled man with a toy gun, raising more questions
It's also the only video the city released that shows the shooting. The footage from Letourneau's body-worn camera was edited to show only 4 minutes and 2 seconds after the shooting occurred. That clip begins with Letourneau handcuffing James Dean, a resident who was tackled by police as he yelled at officers not to shoot Yidana. It is labeled 'redacted' and does not show the shooting itself. Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up Footage from the body-worn camera of Pawtucket Police Officer Thomas Letourneau on June 8, 2025, shows his actions after he shot Sebastian Yidana. Advertisement Letourneau can be heard trying to catch his breath and cursing. Another officer walks him to a cruiser and tells him to take a seat inside. 'F--k. My body camera's on, f--k,' Letourneau says and throws his sunglasses on the dashboard. 'Don't talk to anybody, all right?' a third officer tells him soon after. 'Take a breath.' The other videos captured the chaotic aftermath, as swarms of officers responded in seconds to Letourneau's call about 'shots fired.' Officer Matthew Levasseur jumped out of his cruiser with his gun drawn, shouting at Dean, a resident who was shouting at police as he stood with Yidana. 'Get out of the way so we can help him!' Levasseur shouted. Advertisement Levasseur was the first officer to reach Yidana. He called for a rescue and yelled for gloves, and asked the fallen man's name. 'I might die,' Yidana answered softly, barely audible under James' screams. 'I hope I die.' Video from the body camera worn by Pawtucket Officer Matthew Levasseur on June 8, 2025, shows the aftermath of the shooting of Sebastian Yidana. 'You're not gonna die, buddy,' Levasseur responded. He pulled on gloves and put pressure on Yidana's bleeding wound. 'Was it an officer who did this?' Levasseur asked, several times. 'Yes,' Yidana said. Dean had his hands in the air, screaming, 'Toy gun!' as Officer Andrew Dutra drew his gun and shouted for him to get on the ground. Letourneau tackled Dean to the pavement, and as the officers handcuffed him, Dean kept asking, 'Why am I getting arrested?' One officer picked up the camouflage-colored, orange-tipped, plastic toy gun that Yidana dropped when he was shot. When Officer Nicholas Dadona saw it, he sounded confused. 'That's not the gun,' Dadona can be heard saying on the video from his body-worn camera. 'Where's the real gun?' In body-camera video footage released by officials, a Pawtucket police officer holds the toy gun 28-year-old Sebastian Yidana, a mentally disabled man, was holding when he was shot by Pawtucket Police Officer Thomas Letourneau on June 8. (Pawtucket Police Department) Pawtucket Police Department Yidana had been playing with the toy gun as he stood at the corner of Goff Avenue and Broad Street, outside his apartment building at 10 Goff Ave. 'He's been doing that with the gun the last couple of days, out here, going up to people's cars,' a woman was overheard telling another officer on one of the videos released by the police department. Scott Fontes, Advertisement The bullets also struck a parked vehicle and the front of the Blackstone Valley Community Action Program building on Goff Avenue. Scott Fontes points to bullet holes in the Blackstone Valley Community Action Program building on June 27, 2025. Fontes said those bullets came from a Pawtucket police officer who shot at a mentally disabled man holding a toy gun on June 8, 2025. Amanda Milkovits/Globe Staff Yidana's family said the videos do not explain why he was shot. 'Please, please release all of the videos right now,' implored Yidana's mother, Regina Socree. 'I don't understand why they are playing this game. Release them so we can see what actually happened. This is a human being we are talking about.' Yidana was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia when he was in his late teens; his mother said the police are aware of his mental illness. From his bed at Rhode Island Hospital, Sebastian Yidana recovers at Rhode Island Hospital after being shot by Pawtucket Police Officer while carrying a toy gun. (Regina Socree) Regina Socree The city of Pawtucket has been slow to release any information about the police shooting over the last three and a half weeks. Aside from statements at the scene, Police Chief Tina Goncalves has not answered questions about the shooting. After The city hasn't responded to a public-records request made two weeks ago for the police radio and dispatch calls from the shooting. Although arrest reports are made public within 48 hours under state law, the department didn't respond to the Globe's request for Yidana's until June 25, after the Globe appealed to Grebien and the attorney general's office. Advertisement The 18-page report showed someone had called about a man with an Airsoft gun with an orange tip — indicating that the gun was a toy. Two other officers reported that someone had called about a man with a BB gun. The city still hasn't released a written narrative from Letourneau. City Solicitor Frank Milos told the Globe on June 26 that Letourneau had not yet written one. Video from the body worn camera of Pawtucket Officer Andrew Dutra shows Officer Thomas Letourneau being walked to a police cruiser. Letourneau was placed on administrative leave after the shooting. A video from the body worn camera of Pawtucket Officer Andrew Dutra shows him being walked to a police cruiser after the shooting. A spokesman for the attorney general's office said prosecutors and the state police are continuing to investigate the shooting with Pawtucket police, as is protocol for officer-involved shootings in Rhode Island. Over the last 20 years, Pawtucket police officers have fatally shot seven people and wounded one other person. Each incident was deemed justified by a grand jury. The attorney general's office told the Globe it had no objection to Pawtucket releasing the videos once all the witnesses were interviewed. Other police departments generally release the videos of police shootings that include the incident. Pawtucket's release of edited videos 'was pointless, really,' said Choice McDonnough, Yidana's older sister. 'It doesn't answer what took place prior to the shooting. It just shows a bystander or witness defending Sebastian who is being arrested for no reason.' Pawtucket State Representative Cherie Cruz (left) comforts Regina Socree on Friday as she spoke about her son Sebastian Yidana, who was shot and wounded by a Pawtucket officer on June 8. (Amanda Milkovits/Globe Staff) Amanda Milkovits/Globe Staff The Pawtucket police did not charge Dean or Fontes, who were merely bystanders. However, the police lodged two felony charges against Yidana for allegedly carrying a device that resembled a firearm and pointing it at Letourneau on June 8 and another, unnamed person on June 7. Advertisement Those charges cost Yidana his housing. Pawtucket state representative Cherie Cruz criticized how the Pawtucket police have handled the shooting, saying that it undermined any trust from the community. 'Residents have to live in fear that they have no rights or protection from police violence. Who holds police accountable when they do commit crimes against residents, police themselves?' Cruz told the Globe. 'It will not happen when police police themselves.... a panel of cops will never hold other cops accountable for their lawlessness, crime, and violence.' Amanda Milkovits can be reached at
Boston Globe
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
‘He is not just a nobody': Mother of R.I. man with disabilities shot by police begs for answers
Regina Socree said she found out her son Get Rhode Island News Alerts Sign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday. Enter Email Sign Up Sebastian Yidana, 28, of Pawtucket, R.I., was shot and wounded by a Pawtucket officer on June 8 while holding a toy gun. Police charged him with two counts of felony assault with a fake gun, on the officer and another person in a separate incident. Regina Socree Advertisement Yidana has bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, which he's been treated for over the past 10 years. His mother has power of attorney to handle his affairs. The doctor called her because Yidana is too ill to understand and make his own decisions, Socree said. Yidana is hospitalized in police custody, charged on Wednesday with two felony counts of assault with a device like a firearm and disorderly conduct. He is scheduled to be arraigned in District Court on Monday. 'He needs help. He's almost like a child. He needs his mother,' Socree said. 'He is not just a nobody. He is my son.' Socree said she went to the Advertisement 'I need to be with my son. He needs to know that he has his mother out there that cares for him, that wants to be with him,' she said. Pawtucket State Representative Cherie Cruz and Alexis Morales, the Pawtucket Program Director at Project Weber/RENEW, urged the police to drop the charges against Yidana and explain what happened. 'There has to be a different response than just shoot first and ask questions later,' Cruz said. 'And we need to see the body cameras. We need to know what happened, so we can do better in the future.' Morales, whose son is autistic and nonverbal, said that incidents like this make him and other parents fear for their children when they encounter law enforcement. 'That fear is real, and it's why I'm standing here today, because there's absolutely no reason, none, why Sebastian, a young Black man known in this community as someone living with mental illness, should have been shot on sight by trained police officers simply for carrying a toy gun,' Morales said. Pawtucket The department's use of force policy authorizes officers to use lethal force to protect themselves or others, when the officer has a reasonable belief that an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury exists. The policy says that, when feasible, police officers will identify themselves and state their intent to use lethal force. Advertisement Officer Letourneau has been on the job for a few years and has been a field-training officer. He is on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated by the attorney general's office, state police, and Pawtucket police. Mayor Don Grebien did not take questions from the media on Friday, but through a spokesman, said the shooting was 'a serious and unfortunate incident.' 'I recognize that this is a difficult time for the family of Sebastian Yidana and my thoughts are with them as he recovers,' Grebien said in a statement. 'I look forward to reviewing the results of the ongoing investigation by the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office, the Rhode Island State Police, and the Pawtucket Police Department. We remain committed to transparency and working closely with our Police Department to ensure that our use of force policies and training reflect the highest standards of safety and responsibility.' The Pawtucket police have not responded to the Globe's public records requests for police reports, police logs, or the videos from Letourneau's body-worn camera. When Yidana was a student at Paul Cuffee charter school in Providence, he impressed his teachers with his intelligence and kindness. 'He was an awesome kid, an awesome student, extremely involved in the school,' Megan Thoma, his former humanities teacher, told the Globe in an interview this week. 'He was really an exemplary student. We thought he was going to come back and teach some day.' Yidana was a sophomore when he finished Advertisement Yidana loved education, and the school staff were touched by his earnestness. 'He's a total sweetheart, a little bit nerdy, and when someone was very sweet to him, you were very happy,' Thoma said. He graduated from Paul Cuffee School in 2015 and started his first semester at the University of Rhode Island. Around that time, his mother and his former teachers noticed the first signs of mental illness in Yidana. He dropped out of URI after his first semester, and he has been in and out of treatment since then, his mother said. His former teachers have occasionally seen him out on the street, sometimes carrying a plastic bag of his things, looking like he wasn't taking care of himself. After hearing about the shooting on Sunday, his former middle school teacher texted Thoma. They scrambled to try to help. 'We're a very small community,' Thoma said. 'He's a kid who is regularly on our minds.' Yidana, who lives on his own in an apartment on Goff Avenue, near where he was shot, is known in the area. He often visits the library, where he loves to read, and plays basketball at the local YMCA, his mother said. 'He's a good boy. He's quiet. He keeps to himself,' Socree said. 'Most of the people around here do know Sebastian. He's a very kind and giving person.' Some of the Pawtucket officers know him too, she said, and have interacted with him without problems. A few months ago, Yidana was at the station after an incident, Socree said, and the police arranged with an advocate from Gateway Healthcare to help him. Advertisement 'They know he's ill, because they had an encounter with him and he was sent to the hospital,' Socree said. 'Why didn't they try to do it this time? Why didn't they try to find another way to disarm him without shooting him? They could have killed him.' Amanda Milkovits can be reached at
