This story has been updated.
A State Capitol Police officer parked outside the Legislative Office Building in Hartford sensed something off about the woman approaching his cruiser at sunrise Wednesday. He closed his window — just in time to shield him from a knife.
Security camera footage showed the woman stabbing at the closed window, moving to the front of the cruiser and jabbing at a tire, then returning to the window to resume stabbing it with a frantic overhand motion until the blade broke.
She led the officer and others on a brief foot chase, circling back to an unoccupied cruiser. As she jumped into the cruiser, body camera video showed, an officer used his Taser to stop her.
The woman was taken to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation. Police did not identify the woman, who will face criminal charges to be determined after a review by prosecutors.
The incident was captured on body camera video from a responding officer and from a security camera that provided an overhead view. The police released clips later Wednesday.
Video from the overhead camera showed the woman repeatedly and rapidly stabbing at the window until the blade broke and fell to the ground. She walked around the front of the cruiser, then ran towards the Armory.
A second officer arrived, video from his body-worn camera showing his Taser drawn as he exited his vehicle. The woman wildly waved her arms. She appeared to yell, “Kill me.”
“Hold on,” the officer yelled. “Relax, relax.”
The woman was screaming.
“What’s your name?” an officer asked.
The woman circled a cruiser, the officers keeping a distance. When she opened the door and tried to get inside, an officer immediately fired his Taser.
The officer the woman initially attacked had only four months on the job and was working the midnight shift. But like many on the Capitol Police force, he had experience elsewhere: The officer had been a detective and street cop in New Britain for at least 20 years.
Sgt. Michael Bermudez, the public information officer, said the department’s officers have mental-health crisis training. Gov. Ned Lamont, after being briefed by the Capitol Police Chief Luiz Casanova, praised the police for responding with restraint.
