Police reform advocates and progressive lawmakers said on Monday they were exasperated and insulted by NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban’s decision on Friday not to discipline the two officers involved in the 2019 killing of a Bronx man who was having a mental health crisis at his apartment.
“A mayor and a police commissioner who are evading accountability, this is cowardice on behalf of the leadership of the city of New York,” City Councilmember Pierina Sanchez of the Bronx said at a press conference outside City Hall. “Come out here and face us. Face these families. This is infuriating. This is demoralizing.”
Advocates denounced Caban’s rationale for not punishing the two officers, Brendan Thompson and Herbert Davis, and said it relied on a criminal investigation by the Bronx District Attorney and what they called a “discredited” report from the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division. Advocates argued that Thompson and Davis should have been disciplined by the department because they felt the officers had failed to follow their training and patrol guide by not rendering aid to Trawick, who bled to death in his apartment while police waited outside.
“It’s a shameful day,” Sanchez said, “when our institutions can’t do something so simple as fire officers who enter someone’s home, who’s cooking, minding his own business in a supportive housing facility.”
Holding signs depicting Mayor Eric Adams and Caban, stamped with the words, “Shame on you for not firing Kawaski’s killers,” advocates expressed dismay over feeling that Adams – the city’s second Black mayor – has not changed how police respond to mental health encounters.
“What do you want us to do?” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said. “When you can go into people’s homes and shoot them dead and nothing happens? When we prescribe how to fix it and you don’t do it and you don’t hold any accountability?”
In an emailed response to the criticism, Adams largely echoed Caban’s statement Friday.
“It was crucial that the decision made about the officers involved was carefully considered and I commend NYPD Commissioner Caban for doing just that,” Adams said. “It is vital that we all learn from this loss of life and use it to make positive strides towards better policing and care for those living with severe mental illness.”
On Friday, Tarik Sheppard, a spokesperson for the NYPD, declined to comment on the criticism surrounding the commissioner’s ruling.
Caban announced late on Friday that Thompson and Davis had “acted within the law” and had not committed a crime. In April 2019, the pair confronted 32-year-old Trawick at a supportive housing complex for people with disabilities after responding to 911 calls about him, including one from himself, according to the Bronx DA’s report.
Prosecutors said Thompson and Davis pushed open Trawick’s door and found him standing near his stove holding a bread knife and stick. Thompson tased Trawick despite his more experienced partner’s pleas asking him not to, the report found. Thompson then pulled out his gun as Davis pushed it down, the report said.
Thompson fired four times, striking Trawick twice, the DA’s report said.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board, the city’s police oversight agency, asked an administrative judge to recommend firing Thompson and Davis. However, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado determined the two officers should not be punished, leaving the final decision to Caban.
Thompson remains on active duty and Davis retired this month, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
Advocates said they plan to use upcoming budget negotiations to force reforms or funding cuts in various NYPD programs. They also suggested reviving previously withdrawn legislation that would create an elected CCRB that could change what they called “unilateral” disciplinary authority by the police commissioner.
Pointing to last month’s killing of Win Rozario who died during a mental health encounter, Williams asked what he should now say to Razario’s family.
“How can we tell them to have hope that something’s going to happen when nothing has happened. Nothing has changed with this administration.”