[Please note: The following article contains graphic descriptions and depictions of gun violence and self-harm.]
Pittsfield — Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington announced that, after an investigation, she found a Pittsfield Police Officer acted in self-defense in the shooting death of 22-year-old Miguel Estrella.
Harrington announced her findings during a presentation and press conference on Friday, August 5. During the course of an hour, Harrington presented photographs, emergency dispatch recordings, audio interviews from various eyewitness accounts, and a video taken from a surveillance camera on the night of March 25.
“[Before the incident] Miguel picked his girlfriend up at work at approximately 9 p.m. when they returned to their apartment at 279 Onota St.,” Harrington said. “Miguel began cutting himself on the face with a box cutter multiple times. He had cuts all over his face that were bloody.”
Harrington said that Estrella’s girlfriend asked her friend to call an ambulance.
Harrington said that in an interview after March 25, the sister of Estrella’s girlfriend told investigators that Estrella was involved in an incident a month and a half before when Estrella broke a bottle on his head while he was drinking and he cut himself.
“Miguel’s girlfriend was able to calm him down during the prior incident and brought him to a friend’s house to spend the night,” Harrington said.
Harrington said that two separate 911 calls came into the department alerting dispatch that Estrella was cutting himself outside of the Onota Street apartment building and that he had a history of mental illness.
“Miguel’s girlfriend’s sister left the apartment and waited for an ambulance while Miguel’s girlfriend attempted to calm him down,” Harrington said. “Miguel let her take a box cutter from him but then he later grabbed a small kitchen knife. The girlfriend said that she believed that he was ready to take himself.”
Harrington said that Officer Nicholas Sondrini arrived on the scene and when he arrived, the couple were in a car on their way to see a friend who they thought could help them.
In an interview with investigators, Officer Sondrini said that Estrella left the car and he was holding a bottle of liquor.
“Estrella said that he was not driving and he was not doing anything wrong,” Harrington said. “Officer Sondrini said that he was just there to make sure he was OK and if he needed help.”
Harrington played an audio clip of Sondrini’s interview with investigators.
“After I told him he wasn’t in trouble or that I wasn’t here to get him arrested or anything like that, he relaxed,” Sondrini said. “He told me that he really didn’t want to talk to me and that he didn’t like the police. I kept telling him that I wanted to make sure that he was okay. And then Officer [Christopher Coffey] pulled up and it made [Estrella] nervous again.”
Harrington said that Officer Sondrini asked about the cut on Estrella’s face, and Estrella told him that “he got it at work” and that Estrella refused medical aid.
In an audio clip from his interview, Coffey said that he asked Estrella to be evaluated by Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
“It was very clear to me…that he didn’t want to deal with the police and wanted nothing to do with us,” Coffey said. “He just wanted to go back inside [his apartment].”
A few minutes later, EMS did arrive on the scene, but Coffey said that Estrella refused to get medical treatment.
“As EMS was examining Estrella, Sondrini noticed that Estrella had a knife in his pocket,” Harrington said. “He caught Estrella’s eye who saw that Sondrini noticed it and reached over to remove the knife. When asked about Estrella’s apparent level of intoxication, one EMT thought that he may have seemed a little intoxicated. From his view, Estrella seemed calm, and like he just wanted to get this over with. Coffey said that Miguel’s girlfriend told him that Miguel was drunk and having a hard time but that he was fine.”
Coffey told investigators that officers and EMT workers could not find any reason to force Estrella to go to the hospital.
“Coffey said that Estrella did not mention any statements of wanting to hurt himself, and said he had just been drinking and wanted to go to bed,” Harrington said.
Police officers and EMT workers eventually left the scene. However, a few minutes after they left, a third 911 call came in requesting that they return.
“When Officer Coffey arrived, he saw Estrella and his girlfriend in the street,” Harrington said. “They were on the far side of Woodbine Avenue on the left-hand side of the road. To Coffey, it looked like Estrella was in a pushing match with [his girlfriend]. He did not actually see [Estrella] push her or create distance, but it seemed like they were pushing back and forth. He could also see what appeared to be a large knife in his right hand along his forearm.”
Harrington said that Coffey radioed Sondrini to “step it up.”
“Sondrini understood ‘step it up’ as a direction to go to lights and sirens because something bad was happening,” Harrington said.
Harrington said that Coffey stepped out of his cruiser and drew his taser, pointing it at Estrella as he gave commands to him.
“He also saw Estrella’s girlfriend who was yelling at him to stop and put the knife down,” Harrington said. “Coffey was also telling him to drop the knife. Sondrini got out of his cruiser and drew his handgun. A neighbor who witnessed this said that both of Estrella’s hands were clenched as he held the knife.”
Harrington said that both officers described Estrella as “having a boxing stance, with hands up in fists, palms down with the handle of the knife in his hand and the blade of the knife pointing down. Coffey said that [Estrella] was like a boxer as he was bobbing, weaving, and moving his hand.”
She said that the neighbor interviewed in the case said “the officers were telling [Estrella] to put the knife down, trying to help calm him down, but that Estrella did not want to listen to him.”
“As he moved, Estrella started to close the gap between him and the officers,” Harrington said. “The girlfriend got between them and tried to stop him but he kept moving.”
Harrington said that Coffey fired his taser at Estrella, but it did not stop him and he was still standing. Sondrini subsequently fired his taser at Estrella but it also had very little effect.
“Sondrini was in the process of reloading his taser when he saw Estrella’s girlfriend run up to him on the left side of the road,” Harrington said. “Miguel stood up, resumed his stance, and started walking to her. Sondrini said that when [Estrella’s] girlfriend got within five or six feet of Estrella, Miguel raised the knife. Sondrini thought that he was about to hit her and was ready to fire [his firearm]. He started yelling commands ‘Don’t do it! Just drop it!’ She then backed up out of his view.”
Harrington said that the officers continued to plead with Estrella to put the knife down, but at one point Estrella yelled and attempted to stab himself in the stomach.
She said that Estrella eventually “returned to a fighting posture, faced Sondrini, and advanced on him rapidly.” Estrella proceeded to fire twice from his handgun.
“The neighbor [interviewed] said that he heard Sondrini say ‘don’t make me do this. I don’t want to hurt you. I am trying to help you.”
Estrella later died that evening at Berkshire Medical Center due to his gunshot wounds.
“The facts that we have gathered demonstrate that officer Sondrini acted in self-defense when he shot Miguel Estrella,” Harrington said. “Massachusetts General law states that officers are within their lawful authority to use lethal force when they have exhausted as many attempts at de-escalation when lethal force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily harm, and the force is proportional to the threatened harm. The third-party eyewitness reports demonstrate that the officers provided numerous verbal warnings, created distance, and called for additional resources to help resolve the incident.”
Harrington said that video surveillance footage showed that Estrella’s “movement toward the officers and the knife found on the scene is a proportional threat to officer safety. These elements are well established in law. The facts discovered during the course of this investigation do not establish probable cause to charge the officer. Nor would the Commonwealth be able to meet its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt required for criminal prosecution.”
Towards the end of the press conference, Elina Estrella, sister of Miguel Estrella, read a prepared statement, which is reprinted below in full:
“We are feeling so much hurt and pain, but we thank the people in the community for their support, the district attorney for allowing me to stand up here and speak, and the State Police for their findings. Miguel died because there’s something wrong with the way that we deal with mental health crises. He was cutting his face with a boxcutter. That’s why the police were called the first time. The person who called 911 said he had been cutting himself and had mental health issues. About the first encounter, I cannot help but wonder whether the police should have taken him to the psychiatric ward. Why wasn’t the mental health professional who works with the police department there? How can calls for help during a mental health crisis end up in the person needing help getting shot and killed? The calls went out, not because Miguel was threatening anyone else or because others were scared for their own safety, but because others were concerned that Miguel was hurting himself. Clearly, this was a mental health crisis. Every day, we still think about the what-ifs. What if Miguel had been assisted by a mental health professional who was trained in de-escalation? What if the police had been more proactive in getting Miguel the medical help that he needed that night during the first encounter, even if he denied cutting himself or wanting to hurt himself? We need to do better. We need to answer these questions so this doesn’t happen to anyone else. Miguel was a kind, big-hearted, complicated son, brother, friend, and more to so many of us. He loved his friends, his family, his girlfriend, and his mother very much. Miguel cared about us and about his community. Miguel did work for Habitat for Humanity and encouraged people around him to do better. He had his stumbles but tried to stay positive. Miguel was becoming the change he wanted to see in his community. His loss didn’t just affect his family and friends, it affected his colleagues, and his community. This is how we want him to be remembered.”
See a recording of District Attorney Andrea Harrington’s announcement below, courtesy of Managing Editor Shaw Israel Izikson. Content Warning: The following video contains references to violence and self harm.
