Special unit to prosecute police killings of unarmed Americans has no convictions
More than five years ago, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York signed an executive order to address a persistent concern: Police officers were rarely held accountable for killing unarmed people. Often, those who died were Black.
The solution was to take the cases out of the hands of local prosecutors, whose close relationships with the police led to accusations of bias, and hand them over to the office of the state attorney general.
But the change in the legal process has not altered the results. Of the 43 investigations that the attorney general’s office has conducted in the years since, none has yet led to a conviction. Three officers have been charged — two with murder and another with assault, the office said. About one-quarter of the investigations are still open.
The system was built to protect and shield police officers from wrongdoing and accountability.”
Letitia James | New York attorney general
Biased system
On Tuesday, there was another familiar outcome. A grand jury convened by the attorney general’s office declined to indict any of the seven officers involved in the incident that led to the death of Daniel Prude in Rochester last year. Prude, who was Black, died after the police arrested him in the throes of an apparent psychotic episode, placed a hood over his head and pressed him into the street until he became unconscious.
The case shows that even as the demand that the police face more serious consequences has intensified, the legal system remains tilted in favour of law enforcement, said current and former prosecutors who have sought charges against officers.
New York’s system of investigating deaths caused by police officers is among the most far-reaching in the nation. But officers are afforded special legal protections when they use force in the course of their job. And juries are historically deferential to the police and receptive to arguments defending their actions. Officers often must make split-second decisions in dangerous circumstances, a reality that is not lost on jurors.
‘Extremely disappointed’
“The system was built to protect and shield officers from wrongdoing and accountability,” Letitia James, the New York attorney general, said when she announced the results of the investigation into Prude’s death. James added that she was “disappointed — extremely disappointed” in the grand jury’s decision.