The New York state Attorney General’s office has investigated nearly a dozen cases where a police officer killed an unarmed civilian over the past two years, leading to charges being brought against one NYPD cop, according to a report released Thursday.
In a 23-page study from Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office laid out the 11 cases handled by its Special Investigations and Prosecutions Unit. The division was created after Gov. Cuomo signed an order appointing the attorney general as special prosecutor in certain police-related deaths.
Six of those 11 cases remain under investigation — including the July 4, 2016, shooting of 37-year-old Delrawn Small in East New York, Brooklyn. Off-duty police officer Wayne Isaacs faces manslaughter charges, accused of shooting Small during a fit of road rage.
The open cases also include the Nov. 2 death of Ariel Galarza, 49, who died after an NYPD sergeant Tased him twice in his Bronx home.
Galarza was holding a bottle of hot sauce when a neighbor thought he was an emotionally disturbed person with a knife and called police.
The remaining open cases were for incidents outside of New York City.
The NYPD was involved in two of the five investigations completed by the AG’s office — the Dec. 8, 2015 police shooting of Miguel Espinal, after a chase that started in the Bronx and ended in Yonkers and the March 15, 2015 death of Richard Gonzalez, a cocaine user who died struggling with cops responding to a domestic-violence call made by his wife.
The report cleared the officers of criminal charges, and cited the lack of video evidence.
Source: http://www.nydailynews.com