NYPD officers will not be prosecuted for unjust use of force for fatally gunning down a man in the Bronx who fired on them with an air pistol, state Attorney General Letitia James announced Friday.
A probe by James’ Office of Special Investigation into the police-involved shooting that led to the death of Billy Lee on May 13, 2022 found that prosecutors would not be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that officers were unjustified when they opened fire on the seemingly armed man.
Lee was feuding with another man when he pulled a Byrna HD airsoft pistol, a weapon powered by compressed air, out of his black Ford pickup truck parked on Seneca Ave. near Hunts Point Ave. around 7 p.m., cops said.
“F–k you, F–k, you, I’m going to get my gun,” sources in 2022 told the Daily News Lee screamed at another man.
Nearby NYPD officers working an unrelated investigation saw Lee with the air-powered weapon they mistook for a firearm and demanded he drop the gun, according to the attorney general’s office.
Lee then opened fire on police with the pellet gun and was cut down by return fire.
Officers gave Lee CPR before medics rushed him to Lincoln Hospital where he died, police said.
The use of deadly physical force by police is permitted under New York’s justification law if officers reasonably believe it’s necessary to defend themselves or others from deadly physical force.
Following the shooting, then NYPD Deputy Chief Timothy McCormack told reporters Lee’s pellet gun appeared like a real pistol.
“For all intents and purposes it looks like a semi-automatic firearm,” McCormack said at a news conference, holding a photo of the pistol.
Because Lee fired at officers with what appeared to be a firearm, any case state prosecutors could bring against the officers would be doomed to failure, according to James’ office.
“Under these circumstances, based on the law and the evidence, a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that the officers’ use of force to stop Mr. Lee was justified,” James said in a statement.