What Are Your Rights: Deadly Police Shooting of 13-Year-Old

Announcer: The following segment is sponsored by Harding Mazzotti.

Interviewer: Friday night in Utica, New York, 13-year-old Nyah Mway was fatally shot by a Utica police officer when he was alleged to have aimed a pellet gun, which was a replica of a Glock 17. Here to discuss is Supervising Attorney Cassandra Kazukenus from the law firm of Harding Mazzotti. Hello, Cassandra. Thank you for joining us.

Cassandra: Thank you for having me.

Interviewer: Yes, thank you so much. So the first question here is at this time, it appears there are several investigations ongoing, including an investigation by the attorney general’s office. What is the basis for the attorney general being involved in this investigation?

Cassandra: Yeah, so about three years ago, there was new legislation that was passed that, well, mandated the attorney general’s office get involved anytime there is an officer-involved shooting or incident, whether they’re on duty or off duty. And it also includes corrections officers as well. It’s a part of Executive Law 70-B, which kind of makes sense because when you have your own people investigating your own people, so it gives it a different agency investigating. So it gives it a little bit more of a credibility situation.

Interviewer: Got it. Got it. Okay. And next question, what does the investigation entail, and what are the possible outcomes as a result of the investigation?

Cassandra: Yes. So the investigation is just like any other. They can gather evidence. They can issue subpoenas to compel testimony, compel production of documents, any of that kind of stuff. So they can hire scientific experts. They can do everything that they can at the typical investigative level. On top of that, there is the potential they can bring criminal charges against if they see it fit. And in fact, they supersede the district attorney’s office locally if they want to.

Interviewer: So more resources, essentially.

Cassandra: Yeah.

Interviewer: Got it. Okay. And in addition to the above, is there the potential for civil liability against any of the officers for Mr. Mway’s death?

Cassandra: Tough question to answer because there’s a lot of nuance to it. But generally speaking, whenever you have a claim against a municipal agency, including police agencies or officers, you have to start with what’s called a notice of claim. And that has to be done and filed in the first 90 days after the incident. So you can still continue to investigate from there, which would require a lot of investigation to answer your question properly. But the first step would be to at least file a notice of claim within the first 90 days.

Interviewer: Great. Okay. A lot of good insight here. Thank you so much, Cassandra, for joining us tonight.

Cassandra: Not a problem. Thank you.

Interviewer: Thank you. And for more information covered in our weekly “What Are Your Rights?” segments or to send us a story idea, just head to our website, cbs6albany.com.