By Hana Ikramuddin
New Haven Register
WATERBURY, Conn. — Police body camera footage shows firefighters rescuing a 32-year-old man last month from a Blake Street home where he had been held captive for 20 years.
The video, obtained by CT Insider through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows a Waterbury police officer walking up to the house while the man’s stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, called for help on the sidewalk with a dog in her hands on the night of Feb. 17 . Moments earlier, Sullivan had called 911 to report the fire and that her stepson had been injured, according to audio of the call also obtained by CT Insider through an FOIA request.
“My stepson is in here,” she told a firefighter in the video.
When a blurred figure emerged from the house, Sullivan said, “Oh, here he is,” according to the video.
A first responder ushered Sullivan away from the house as her stepson, blurred in the footage, emerged from the house in the arms of a firefighter. A firefighter is seen in the video carrying the man — who police say was 5-foot-9 and weighed 68 pounds — away from the home and to an ambulance when the footage ends.
Police said the unidentified man used a lighter, hand sanitizer and paper to set fire to his room in an effort to escape, and he told authorities had had been held captive since he was 11 years old.
Police said the man was extremely emaciated, his hair was matted and unkempt, and his teeth appeared to be rotted, a warrant for Sullivan’s arrest said.
“I wanted my freedom,” the man told firefighters and EMTs who were providing him was care after the February fire, Waterbury police reported.
Sullivan, 56, was arraigned Wednesday on charges that include second-degree kidnapping and intentional cruelty to a person. After spending one night in jail, she was freed on $300,000 bond.
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