More than four years after the fatal police shooting of an out gay man, Kawaski Trawick, there continues to be a glaring lack of accountability — especially given the shocking nature of a case in which cops entered a man’s home without his permission and killed him in a matter of minutes.
It was in April of 2019 when Officers Brendan Thompson and Herbert Davis entered Trawick’s apartment on a night when he may have been experiencing distress. Trawick was holding a knife while cooking in his kitchen and he kept asking the officers why they were in his home. They ignored Trawick’s questions, instead demanding that he drop the knife, according to police body camera footage. Davis tased him and subsequently shot him to death after he stood up.
The case sparked outrage in the LGBTQ community and led to countless demonstrations calling for justice — and citywide officials such as Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams have echoed those calls.
“Commissioner Caban can and must hold these officers accountable for misconduct — it’s what Kawaski’s family, New Yorkers, and officers who have not engaged in misconduct deserve from the NYPD,” the speaker said on Sept. 26.
