MANHATTAN —
The mother of Kawasaki Trawick, the 32-year old Black man tased and shot to death by the NYPD in 2019, has spent years demanding the officers responsible for his death be fired—but she believes she may soon hear the decision on whether that will happen.
“I’m hopeful,” said Ellen Trawick, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, about a pending discipline decision by NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban into the fate of officers Brendan Thompson—who tased and shot Trawick—and his partner Herbert Davis, who pushed Trawick’s door open without permission.
The NYPD press office did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the case or when the commissioner plans to make a disciplinary decision.
But police officials have previously said they consider the shooting to be justified, and both officers remain on the job, despite the Civilian Complaint Review Board substantiating misconduct against the officers.
In September, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of trials, Rosemarie Maldonado, wrote in a draft disciplinary decision obtained by The City that “the trial record raises serious doubts as to whether Respondent Thompson followed Department guidelines during this incident.”
But ultimately, Maldonado called those doubts “moot” and recommended that all charges be dropped, because the CCRB’s decision arrived after the expiration of the 18 month statute of limitations.
Body camera footage of the incident took 20 months to be made public, said Loyda Colón, executive director of the Justice Committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to addressing police violence in New York City.
“Enabling Murder”
Alexa Avilés, (D-Brooklyn), criticized Maldonado’s recommendation to drop the disciplinary charges against the officers.
“Accountability does not mean taking advantage of loopholes,” said Avilés, speaking at the October 10 rally for justice in Trawick’s death. Lack of accountability is “enabling murder,” she said.
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