A judge and the brother of a man fatally shot by a New Milford police officer recount the painful tale of two deaths that could have been avoided

On Dec. 29, 1998, along Route 202 in New Milford, two 27-year-old men found themselves in a confrontation that would ultimately take both of their lives.

Franklyn Reid, a Jamaican immigrant whose family had settled in New Milford when he was a boy, was the first to die. Reid had a criminal record, and police held warrants for his arrest. Scott Smith was one of several New Milford police officers trying to arrest Reid that cold December day.

There was a brief foot chase, and then the two men struggled for 41 seconds alongside the busy road. It ended when Smith fired a fatal shot from his Heckler & Koch 9mm pistol into Reid’s back. Three weeks later, Smith became the first Connecticut police officer to be charged with murder for a line-of-duty shooting. The prosecutor charged with investigating the case, Waterbury State’s Attorney John Connelly, found that Smith’s claim that he feared for his life when he shot Reid was not justified.

Fifteen years later, the psychological wounds of that day and its aftermath unhealed, Scott Smith committed suicide inside his Danbury home.

The story of that day, of the court proceedings and trial that followed, and of the way the case resolved is told in a new book, “Death by Cop — A Call for Unity!” by Wayne Reid, Franklyn Reid’s younger brother, and retired Superior Court Judge Charles D. Gill, who presided over Smith’s 2000 trial.

The book, with a cover that features a jarring autopsy photo of the bullet wound that killed Franklyn Reid, contains some unexpected news.

Wayne Reid and his father Dwight both believe the shooting was an accident — that Smith accidentally fired his pistol. In the days after the shooting, state police detectives and Connelly suspected the same, but were stunned when they received Smith’s statement, prepared with the help of a lawyer, in which he said he intentionally shot Reid.

“I believed at that time he was either going to shoot me or stab me,” Smith wrote in his affidavit. “Out of fear for my life at that instant, I discharged my weapon one time, striking Mr. Reid.” The statement is what brought about the murder charge.

At a trial in 2000, a Litchfield County jury acquitted Smith of murder, but did find him guilty of manslaughter. Gill sentenced Smith to six years in prison, one more than the minimum mandatory five years.

Smith never served a day, however, because he remained free as his conviction was appealed. In October 2002 the state appellate court sided with Smith’s defense lawyers and ruled that Gill improperly excluded testimony about Smith’s training. The court overturned Smith’s conviction and ordered a new trial.

“Perhaps a long trial could have been avoided if Smith received better advice immediately after the shooting by acknowledging his gun discharged by accident,” Wayne Reid writes in the book.

Smith eventually agreed to plead no contest to criminally negligent homicide and received a one-year suspended sentence and two years of probation. He also agreed never again to seek employment as a police officer. Several months later, Reid’s family won a $1.6 million wrongful death settlement from the town of New Milford.

While the book is bitter at times, as Wayne Reid describes losing his brother and the impact of the loss on his family, there are also moments of grace, such as when Wayne Reid writes that it is clear to him Smith was a good person. “Hate did not course through the family’s journey in court, it was just an unfortunate situation,” he writes.

Gill, in a chapter titled “Judge Gill vs. The Appellate Court,” lays out his views on why his rulings limiting testimony about Smith’s police training were proper. To have allowed the testimony of three witnesses rather than one would have been unnecessarily repetitive, Gill argues. Excluding the additional witnesses, the appellate court found in ordering a new trial, denied Smith his right to present a defense.

Gill also writes that he was distressed and befuddled by Smith’s testimony during the trial. “His approach was unbelievable,” Gill writes. “Was he coached by his police pals who took advantage of his youth and inexperience in this 41-second event? Did they disregard the facts and truth? Did he have a delusion that his six-foot-two-inch, 190-pound-framed life was threatened by an unarmed five-foot-four-inch, 129-pound black guy who was lying face down on the dirt, with his foot and gun pressed against his back, in full view of six civilian witnesses? Or was it an accident as Wayne Reid suggests?”

As a trial judge for three decades, Gill said few cases affected him as much as the Scott Smith trial. He eventually made contact with Reid, and they decided to collaborate on a book. Gill said he was struck by Reid’s belief that his family’s tragedy might be a way to bring people together.

Wayne Reid, in an interview, said he always felt compassion for Smith and his family. Even during the trial, he said both families were seeking justice for loved ones. “It was a tragic situation that connected both families,” he said.

He said he hopes the book inspires others to talk about their similar experiences, both police and people who have lost loved ones in police shootings. “I believe that if a multitude of people tell their stories, we could find some sort of solution,” he said. Most of all, he said he hopes the result is better communication and mutual respect between the police and the communities they serve.

Reid, 41, who works as assistant controller for a New York City public relations company, also said that he wishes people would view the violent confrontations between police and citizens in a new way.

“If we can fundamentally change how we view these incidents, as right vs. wrong instead of black vs. white, we could move the needle away from racism,” he said. “Incident after incident … it’s always skin color references.”

Pointing to the confrontation between his brother and Smith, Reid said he thinks that if those around Smith had helped him do the right thing — admit the shooting was an accident — years of heartache and pain could have been avoided.

“If the officer had said, ‘You know what? this was an accident,’ I believe my family, the community would have been much more accepting so that we could move forward,” Reid said. “As tragic as it was, we would have been at peace. All of us, the community, Officer Smith and his family, would have been able to live with that admission.”

Reid said it was important to him and Gill not to write a book that sought to demonize any side. It’s more important, he said, to focus on solutions. He said it is not realistic to think police shootings will be eliminated, but through better training they might be reduced. And those that do occur can be handled more constructively.

The authors are in talks with a screenwriter, who has visited Connecticut, and hope the book will be made into a movie.

“Death by Cop — A Call for Unity” by Wayne Reid and Charles Gill is available in local bookstores and through online booksellers.

David Owens can be reached at dowens@courant.com.