New York, New York – Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban has determined that two New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers involved in the fatal shooting of Kawaski Trawick in April 2019 acted within the law for their actions leading up to the 32-year-old man’s tragic death.
The district attorney in the Bronx, the borough in which the shooting took place, declined to bring charges against the officers in November 2020.
An examination by the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division (FID) similarly cleared the officers of wrongdoing in January 2021.
Pursuant to the then-operative terms of a memorandum of understanding between the police department and the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), the body-worn camera footage of a matter being investigated by FID was provided by the department to the CCRB following the conclusion of the FID investigation.
In this instance, that occurred in January 2021, five months before the expiration of the statute of limitations governing disciplinary matters. The CCRB then brought charges against the officers after the expiration of the statute of limitations. Because of this, the only permissible charges were allegations of criminal conduct. In September 2023, following a trial prosecuted by the CCRB, the judge overseeing the proceedings found that the officers had not engaged in criminal conduct.
The police commissioner has likewise concluded that no crime was committed by the officers. Since the events in question, the NYPD has entered into a new memorandum of understanding with the CCRB, obligating the department to provide all future body-worn camera footage and documentation related to FID cases within 90 days of CCRB’s request.
