One of the misconduct charges against the officers involved in the fatal 2019 police shooting of 32-year-old gay man Kawaski Trawick was dropped just days before the beginning of a disciplinary trial in the case.
Trawick’s parents — who traveled to New York fr0m Georgia last week to rally at NYPD headquarters — said they learned through the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) that NYPD deputy commissioner of trials Rosemarie Maldonado dropped the charge related to illegal entry, though other charges remain. The NYPD did not respond to Gay City News’ request for comment on April 20 — just four days before both officers are slated to begin their respective trials on April 24. In a written statement to Gay City News, the CCRB criticized the dropped charge.
“We strongly disagree with the decision,” a CCRB spokesperson said. “Deputy Commissioner Maldonado overstepped her authority and we are exploring all our options.”
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams responded to the news by describing the dropped charge as “an outrageous subversion of civilian oversight for police misconduct” that “bypasses and undermines the established process of a scheduled disciplinary trial for actions that led to the killing of a New Yorker.”
..............
Justice Committee, an organization supporting the family, suggested in a press release that a 2012 Memorandum of Understanding involving the CCRB and NYPD stipulates that decisions to drop charges should come from the police commissioner except in “cases in which there are parallel or related criminal investigations, or when, in the case of an officer with no disciplinary history or prior substantiated CCRB complaints, based on such officer’s record and disciplinary history the interests of justice would not be served.”
