Bridgeport Police Shooting: Ambulance Diverted for Officer's Anxiety

A Connecticut state investigation has raised serious questions about the medical response following a police shooting in Bridgeport last year, finding that a wounded man waited an additional ten minutes for an ambulance after officers directed the first one to transport a colleague experiencing what the report described as a “mild anxiety attack.”

Dyshan Best, 39, was shot in the back on March 31 as he fled from Bridgeport police officers responding to a 911 call about a large brawl involving roughly 30 people, some of them armed. A report released this week by Connecticut Inspector General Eliot Prescott found the shooting itself was legally justified. The officer pursuing Best had reason to fear for his safety because Best was carrying a gun. But the report’s account of what happened in the minutes after Best fell tells a different story.

The first ambulance arrived at the scene at 6:02 p.m., approximately 14 minutes after the shooting. Best was on the ground with severe internal injuries. Rather than loading him into that ambulance, officers urged paramedics to take Officer Erin Perrotta instead. Perrotta had been involved in the foot chase and was described by a fellow officer as “visibly hysterical, crying and breathing rapidly,” with blood on her uniform. According to the report, paramedics noted that Perrotta declined treatment during the ambulance ride and told them, “I am fine, I just needed to get out of here.”

A second ambulance reached the scene at 6:12 p.m. Hospital records show Best arrived for treatment at 6:22 p.m., roughly 14 minutes after Perrotta was admitted. Best died at 7:41 p.m. while undergoing treatment for a gunshot wound that damaged his liver and right kidney.

Prescott’s report stopped short of concluding whether the ten-minute delay contributed to Best’s death. That gap may never be filled with certainty. But the family has no doubts about what they believe happened.

Tatiana Barrett, one of Best’s nieces, told the Associated Press the report’s findings have devastated the family. “Honestly it’s heartbreaking hearing all these details,” Barrett said. “We were looking for justice. In our community, we don’t know what justice looks like. We want justice for my uncle. We truly believe he was murdered.”

Best was Black. Perrotta is white. The report does not draw any racial conclusions about the decision to redirect the ambulance, but the optics are unavoidable, and the family’s grief has been sharpened by that fact.

Bridgeport police spokesperson Shawnna White declined to comment on Perrotta’s use of the first ambulance. In an email, White confirmed that the department’s Internal Affairs Division would conduct its own investigation. White also disclosed that Perrotta is currently on administrative leave for an unrelated matter but did not specify what that matter involves.

Messages left for Perrotta, Mayor Joe Ganim’s office, the city police union, and the family’s attorney, Darnell Crosland, had not been returned as of the report’s release.

The question of how medical resources are allocated in the immediate aftermath of a police use-of-force incident deserves serious attention from law enforcement administrators across the country. An officer experiencing emotional distress after a traumatic event is a legitimate concern. Departments have an obligation to support their personnel. But that support cannot come at the expense of a critically wounded civilian who has no other avenue for care. The two needs are not equal in that moment, and the chain of command at the scene failed to recognize that.

Whether the Internal Affairs review in Bridgeport will produce accountability, disciplinary action, or revised protocols is an open question. The inspector general’s office, which conducted the original investigation, has no enforcement authority over the police department. That authority rests with city leadership, including a mayor’s office that has so far said nothing.

Best’s family is left with a report that validates one part of their grief while leaving the larger wound unaddressed. They believe ten minutes made the difference between life and death. Nobody with the power to answer that question is talking.