Two New York City police officers who entered a Bronx man’s apartment and fatally shot him when he refused to put down a kitchen knife won’t face internal disciplinary charges.
The officers “acted within the law” in the 2019 shooting death of Kawaski Trawick, Police Commissioner Edward Caban in a Friday statement.
Caban also accused the city’s police oversight board of waiting too long to bring administrative charges against police officers Brendan Thompson and Herbert Davis.
The officers arrived at the supportive housing building after Trawick, an aspiring dancer who suffered from mental health issues, called 911 on April 14, 2019, because he was locked out.
The FDNY arrived first and helped him get back inside. When the police officers got there, they entered his apartment and found Trawick holding the long knife.
In body-worn camera footage released by the NYPD, a shirtless Trawick can be heard telling the police officers he was cooking and asking why they were in his apartment.
Officer Thompson first fired his Taser when Trawick moved toward him, then used his handgun to shoot Trawick four times despite his more experienced partner urging him not to use force. The incident lasted just under two minutes.
The killing of Trawick, a Black man, by a white police officer sparked outrage in the city.
The Bronx district attorney didn’t charge the officers and they were cleared in an internal investigation.
The civilian agency that oversees the NYPD brought the administrative charges against the officers, saying they should have de-escalated the situation.
But a judge overseeing the case found the board waited too long to charge them. The board blamed the delay on the NYPD, saying the department waiting too long to turn over the body worn camera footage.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams released a statement declaring the decision would “erode public trust.”
“Ultimately, the Trawick family and all New Yorkers are left without the accountability they deserve from the city’s police department,” she said. “Kawaski’s life was stolen from him; and the ripple effects of this unimaginable tragedy, compounded by the lack of accountability for these officers’ actions, only further erode public trust.”
Caban said the department now has a policy to provide footage to the board within 90 days.