Officer having 'anxiety attack' took ambulance sent for man dying from police shooting, report says

A man who was shot by police and later died had to wait 10 extra minutes for an ambulance after an officer having a “mild anxiety attack” took the first one that arrived at the scene, according to a newly released state investigation.

Dyshan Best, 39, was shot in the back last year as he fled from officers in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A report released Tuesday by the state’s inspector general found that the shooting was justified because Best had a gun in his hand and the officer pursuing him had reasons to fear for his own safety.

But the report raised questions about what took place after the March 31 shooting, which left Best, who was Black, bleeding with severe internal injuries.

The first ambulance called to take Best to the hospital arrived at the scene at 6:02 p.m., about 14 minutes after the shooting. However, at the urging of other officers, that ambulance was used to take away a white police officer, Erin Perrotta, who had been involved in the foot chase, the report said.

Paramedics reported that Perrotta declined treatment in the ambulance.

“I am fine, I just needed to get out of here,” she said, according to the report. Another officer described Perrotta at the time as “visibly hysterical (crying and breathing rapidly) and had blood all over her uniform,” the report said.

The second ambulance arrived at the scene at about 6:12 p.m. Hospital records said Best was brought in for treatment at 6:22 p.m. — about 14 minutes after Perrotta got to the hospital, according to the report.

Best died at 7:41 p.m. as he was undergoing treatment for the gunshot wound, which damaged his liver and right kidney.

The report by Inspector General Eliot Prescott did not say whether the delay in waiting for another ambulance contributed to Best’s death.

One of Best's nieces, Tatiana Barrett, told The Associated Press that revelations from the report have angered and saddened family and friends. They believe he could have survived if he was taken to the hospital in the first ambulance.

“Honestly it's heartbreaking hearing all these details,” she 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.”

A spokesperson for Bridgeport police, Shawnna White, declined to comment Wednesday when asked about Perrotta taking the first ambulance. She said in an email that the police department's Internal Affairs Division would conduct its own investigation.

Perrotta currently is out on administrative leave due to an unrelated matter, which White did not disclose.

Phone and email messages were left Wednesday for Perrotta, Mayor Joe Ganim’s office, Prescott’s office, the city police union and Darnell Crosland, a lawyer for Best’s family.

The series of events began when someone called 911 to report a brawl involving about 30 people, including some who had guns. A witness pointed officers to two men in an SUV and said they had a gun, the report says.

Perrotta approached the passenger’s side of the vehicle and opened the door. Best is seen on police body camera video in the passenger’s seat, holding a bottle of alcohol, a vape pen and a cellphone. Perrotta asks Best to step out of the SUV so she could pat him down, the video shows. Best gets out of the vehicle, then runs away with police chasing after him.

During the chase, Best pulled out a 9 mm handgun, the report said. As he ran into a lot filled with disabled cars, the officer chasing him, Yoon Heo, fired his gun twice, striking Best once.

The inspector general concluded, based on the video evidence, that the shooting was justified because Best pointed his gun backward at Heo as he ran.

While wounded on the ground, Best said, “I got shot,” the videos show. Heo responds, “You pulled a gun on me,” but Best says “No I didn’t.” Heo then says “Yeah you did.” Prescott said a handgun was found near Best at the scene.

After the shooting, the family's lawyer, Crosland disputed that Best had a gun and claimed he was instead holding a vape pen. Prescott said police body camera video clearly show Best with a pistol in his hand.

Best’s niece, Barrett, said he was a truck driver who had returned to his hometown of Bridgeport to attend a friend’s funeral.

In this photo taken from video released by the Bridgeport Police Department, Dyshan Best runs from a Bridgeport Police officer while holding a gun Monday, March 31, 2025, in Bridgeport, Conn. (Bridgeport Police Department via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by the Bridgeport Police Department, Bridgeport Police officer Yoon Heo points his gun as Dyshan Best runs while holding a gun Monday, March 31, 2025, in Bridgeport, Conn. (Bridgeport Police Department via AP)

In this photo taken from video released by the Bridgeport Police Department, Dyshan Best looks up at Bridgeport Police officer Yoon Heo after being shot by Heo during a chase, Monday, March 31, 2025, in Bridgeport, Conn. (Bridgeport Police Department via AP)

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Former Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman, who was convicted of lying during testimony at the O.J. Simpson murder trial, has died. He was 74.

Fuhrman was one of the first two police detectives sent to investigate the 1994 killings of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in Los Angeles. He reported finding a bloody glove at Simpson’s home but his credibility came under attack during the trial as the defense raised the prospect of racial bias.

Under cross-examination, Fuhrman testified that he had never made anti-Black racial slurs in the past decade, but a recording showed he had done so repeatedly.

Lynn Acebedo, the chief deputy coroner in Kootenai County, Idaho, said that Fuhrman died May 12. The county does not release the cause of death as a rule.

Alan Dershowitz, a prominent lawyer and law professor who was a legal strategist on Simpson’s defense “Dream Team,” said Fuhrman was a “much better detective than he was a witness.”

“He’s very smart, and you know, a very, very aggressive detective. Ultimately his actions helped us win the O.J. case because of his use of the ‘n’ word,” Dershowitz said Monday evening. “I got to know him later, after it was all over, and we had a cordial relationship.”

Fuhrman retired from the Los Angeles Police Department after Simpson’s 1995 acquittal. He subsequently moved to Idaho with his family and set up a 20-acre (eight-hectare) farm, raising chickens, goats, sheep and llamas.

In 1996, Fuhrman was charged with perjury and pleaded no contest. He later became a TV and radio commentator and wrote the book “Murder in Brentwood” about the killings.

A criminal-court jury found Simpson, a former star NFL running back and actor, not guilty of murder in 1995, but a separate civil trial jury found him liable in 1997 for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to relatives of Brown and Goldman. He served nine years in prison on unrelated charges and died in Las Vegas of prostate cancer in 2024 at the age of 76.

Kato Kaitlin, a friend of Brown who also testified in the murder trial, wrote in a post on X that he wanted to respectfully acknowledge Fuhrman's death and that he hopes Fuhrman's loved ones can find peace.

“While we were never close personally, our lives were indelibly linked through our roles in the O.J. Simpson trial over thirty years ago. It was a deeply complex and painful chapter for everyone involved, but any loss of life is a time for reflection and solemnity,” Kaitlin wrote.

Fuhrman’s father left when he was 7 years old, and Fuhrman often cared for his younger brother while his mother worked. As an adult, he joined the Marines and then the Los Angeles Police Department.

Golden reported from Seattle.

FILE - In this June 15, 1995 file photo, O.J. Simpson, left, grimaces as he tries on one of the leather gloves prosecutors say he wore the night his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were murdered in a Los Angeles courtroom. (AP Photo/Sam Mircovich, Pool, File)

FILE - Los Angeles Police Department Det. Mark Fuhrman, foreground, and Superior Court Judge Lance Ito, rear, crane their heads to look at an overhead monitor during the O.J. Simpson double-murder trial, Friday, March 10, 1995, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

FILE - Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Fuhrman shows the jury in the O.J. Simpson double murder trial evidence during testimony Friday, March 10, 1995, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, Pool, File)