Press Release

On January 31st, 2023 Connecticut Post newspaper published an article titled “Advocates call for policing reforms, as Lamont questions whether Tyre Nichols incident could happen in CT.”  This article discussed the recent events in Memphis and how that incident translates to Connecticut.  The author of the article, Alex Putterman, quoted Scot X. Esdaile, President of Connecticut’s NAACP chapter, “What we saw is what’s going on in America”.  The article goes on to quote Mr. Esdaile “It’s not only happening in Memphis, we’ve seen it in New Haven, we’ve seen it in Westport (hyperlink attached), we’ve seen it in Hartford, we’ve seen it in Bridgeport.  The same thing that we saw there we’re also seeing in Connecticut.”   The link associated with “Westport” references a case from 2011 in Westport, MA.  Understandably, members of the Westport Police Department were disappointed by this article because we feel we have worked hard to build relationships and have never had any incident that resembles what we saw in Memphis.

Initially, we reached out to Hearst Media and they admitted that the link was incorrect and should not be linked to Westport, CT.  Hearst Media deleted all mention of Westport from the article.  We reached out to Scot X. Esdaile and he provided the following statement:

“I Scot X. Esdaile the President of the CT NAACP State Conference, would like to apologize to Chief Foti Koskinas, the Westport Police Department and the Town of Westport.  During my interview with Alex Putterman from the CT Post, I misquoted stating Westport, CT when I should have said West Haven, CT.   I'm deeply apologetic for this mistake, I have had a conversation with the Chief along with Harold Bailey the Chairman of the Westport Civilian Review Panel, and we had a wonderful and energetic conversation.  I apologized during the call several times and we are looking forward to working together in the future.”

Chief Koskinas would like to highlight that once this article was brought our attention, the conversations between Mr. Esdaile and Chief Koskinas, were productive and brought about a positive resolution.