Internal investigation report on attack on State Representative Khan published

HARTFORD, Conn. – Hartford police released an internal affairs report Tuesday into the June 2023 attack on state Rep. Maryam Khan. The findings found that an officer failed to include all required details in the initial report of the incident and that further allegations made against police were “unsubstantiated.”

The report refutes claims Khan made during a news conference in July 2023 about the incident in which she was attacked by a man identified by police as 30-year-old Andrey Desmond of New Britain as she walked on attended an Eid al-Adha prayer service at the XL Center and “concluded that the system as a whole had failed them” after the attack.

In their report, the police stated: “It appears that citizens and police helped her in her time of need” and the allegation that the police officers who were on duty at the incident neglected their duty was incorrect.

RELATED: Hartford Police Union demands Rep. Khan apologize for statements made after attack

The information in the Internal Affairs Division’s summary was based on details of the conference, a video from the XL Center, body cam videos of the officers at the scene, all police reports on the incident, interviews with officers involved and the steps police took during the incident Police said they were investigating.

The report notes that Khan said at the news conference that police were outside the XL Center when she arrived at the service but were not there during the attack after the event. According to the findings, the officers at the event were hired to work between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. The dispatch center reportedly received a 911 call five minutes after the officers were relieved of duty.

Khan also said during the conference that she had to convince emergency responders on the scene that she was injured and emotionally traumatized. According to the report, a dispatch recording showed Khan initially refusing medical attention from the dispatcher and then accepting an ambulance two minutes later when the dispatcher asked her again if she needed treatment.

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According to police, she was offered medical assistance three times by mail and by an officer on site.

The report also disputes a claim by Khan in which she said police “did not escort her back to her vehicle” after the incident. Police said Desmond had already been arrested at that point and that an officer asked Khan if she needed a ride, although it appeared she didn’t hear her on the bodycam video.

According to police, Khan told an officer, “We’re walking” and that “the car is parked right there,” and pointed to the XL Center garage when the officer asked her if she had come to the crime scene on foot.

Khan further claimed that the police report did not include everything she told officers, and that it did not include the fact that she was Muslim or that her children witnessed the incident. Police said it was unclear whether they received all of the information documented by police, including before and after she left the scene, and found that the accounts provided by both witnesses and the victim “in no way indicated that a hate crime was being committed, which would be the only appropriate reason to document her religion.”

RELATED: Good Samaritan who came to the defense of state lawmaker Maryam Khan put on trial

According to the report, Timothy Rogers was recommended by Hartford police to undergo retraining because he did not mention the names of Khan’s children in his initial summary of the incident and did not provide “many details of the interaction” leading up to her attack have led. Police add in the document that he should have documented “relevant information” such as the “involvement of the children as well as anyone else present.”

Rogers had previously completed his initial police training on April 3, 2022 and was considered a “newer officer,” police said.

The report notes that while he asked Khan for the information about her children, he did not include it in his summary. It also mentions that he did not view his body camera footage before writing the incident summary. Still, Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody said in a statement that the “reporting issues were later resolved during the course of the investigation” and that they “had no impact on the case.”

“I can only imagine how painful and traumatic this attack was for the victim and her family, and no one in any community should have to experience such a senseless and traumatic attack,” Thody said. “My deepest condolences go out to her and her family, and as a department we are deeply committed to ensuring our response to all victims is compassionate, sensitive, professional and thorough.”

Comment from Khan on the report’s findings was not immediately available when contacted.

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