If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT: A former Planned Parenthood director reportedly took his own life as police investigated him and raided his apartment in a child pornography case. Tim Yergeau, 36, was found dead in his New Haven, Connecticut apartment on Tuesday, April 11, just five days after an apparently botched attempt by police to arrest him.
Yergeau has not been identified as a suspect in the investigation, but police have established that the guy who died by suicide in the apartment block was a suspect. "The person who died was the suspect in a child pornography investigation and the person who committed suicide," New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson told the New Haven Register. The search warrant permitted police to examine Yergeau's electronic devices, although he was not detained during the police raid. Before storming his apartment, authorities knocked down his neighbor's door and handcuffed her without realizing they had raided the incorrect apartment, according to Daily Mail.
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Jacobson ordered an internal affairs probe after Special Victims Unit officers "obviously hit the wrong door." The probe will also look at how Yergeau died by suicide in the aftermath of the raid. "Unfortunately, a mistake was made," Jacobson said, adding 'We feel for the woman and we're going to do everything we can to make it right. The investigation is part of holding my department accountable and transparent."
Who was Tim Yergeau?
Yergeau formerly worked at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England as the head of strategic communications. During his time at the organization, Yergeau was part of an artmaking and letter-writing workshop in the parking lot of PPSNE – writing 247 'love letters' to abortion. At the time of the event, he stated that his notes may become an exhibit at the Whitney Avenue office or one of PPSNE's 14 satellite offices in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
After his role at Planned Parenthood, Yergeau was appointed marketing and communications director of the Long Wharf Theatre in August 2022, according to the organization's website. 'We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn about the developments of the last 24 hours. Given the difficult news, it would be inappropriate to comment further," a spokesperson for the theater said Wednesday in an email, according to Daily Mail. The child pornography suspect had also worked for the New Haven Free Public Library Foundation. The abortion advocate also promoted leftist and LGBTQ causes on his social media.
'You just don't do that to people'
According to Jacobson, there are two ongoing investigations into the situation, and police will not publicize the search warrant application or information about what was discovered in Yergeau's flat until they are convinced no one else is involved in the case. Stacey Wezenter, Yergeau's neighbor, claimed she was traumatized when cops knocked down her door and detained her on April 6 before realizing they were in the wrong flat. "Every time I walk down my hallway, I relive it," said Wezenter, DailyMail reported.
"What if I had a gun permit? What if I came down the hallway with a gun? Would I have gotten shot? What if my four-year-old had woken up? Would they have shot him?" Wezenter said, adding "You just don't do that to people." Wezenter has subsequently filed a complaint and claims that police attempted to link her with mental health resources, but she refused. "I was planning on going down there and talking to him," she said about her neighbor, before realizing he'd taken his own life.
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