New York Attorney General Letitia James decided not to pursue criminal charges against NYPD officers for their actions regarding the death of a dirt-bike rider who died when a cop in an unmarked vehicle veered in front of the rider, an incident previously reported by The City Reporter.
In a statement, James noted, “the law and the evidence do not establish that the officers were without fault.”
“However, the law and the evidence do establish that a prosecutor cannot meet the high burden to convict the officers of a crime at trial, by proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” James said.
James’ decision, released Monday, comes as The City Reporter has won a lawsuit ordering the NYPD to release body-cam and street camera video footage and an internal departmental report of the May 28, 2023 incident.
That afternoon, Samuel Williams was riding an illegal dirt bike in The Bronx when a sedan driven by Patrol Officer Raymond Perez deliberately cut across ongoing traffic in front of him. He collided head-on with the car, flew through the air and was badly injured. He died a day later.
The AG’s Office of Special Investigation (OSI), which probes NYPD-involved incidents that result in fatalities, found that Williams was leading a pack of illegal dirt bikes and ATVs over the University Heights Bridge from the Bronx into Manhattan when confronted by four unmarked cars driven by NYPD cops.
The AG investigators found two of the NYPD cars — “in an attempt to slow traffic and stop the bikes” — crossed into the oncoming lane. Williams managed to swerve around the first NYPD-driven vehicle but slammed into the second driven by Perez. Investigators found that evidence doesn’t rule out the possibility that “Williams accelerated in order to go around the police car and evade capture.”
They also found that after the collision, Williams’ right leg “was visibly broken but he was alert and speaking.” They said he hopped on one leg towards officers before collapsing on the hood of one of the NYPD cars, where he was handcuffed and transported to a hospital.
The AG investigation declared that he underwent surgery for a broken leg and died the next day from unspecified “complications” related to that surgery.
“Although the actions of the officers who turned their cars into oncoming traffic raise serious concerns and were inconsistent with their training, the evidence does not establish the speed of either the police cars or Mr. Williams’ dirt bike at the time of the collision, or whether Mr. Williams accelerated in order to go around the police car and evade capture,” the OSI found. “Therefore, the evidence is insufficient to establish the officers’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
“For these reasons, OSI will not seek criminal charges,” James stated.
After the incident, Yoav Gonen, then a writer at The City Reporter, reported that the city had billed his family $3,439 for damage to the NYPD unmarked car. The demand for payment was later withdrawn by the city comptroller.
Gonen then filed Freedom of Information Law requests with the NYPD seeking the release of the department’s Force Investigation Division’s closing memo related to Williams’ death and all evidence gathered by FID during its investigation of the incident, including body camera footage, dash-cam footage, street camera footage and the closing memo.
The department rejected all of his requests, ultimately claiming that the records were generated as part of a criminal investigation of Williams that was never brought because he had died. The case, they alleged, had been sealed.
Lawyers with the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic sued the department on behalf of Gonen and The City Reporter. Last week Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank rejected the NYPD’s argument for non-disclosure, ordering the department to turn over everything that was requested within 90 days.
The judge found the law on keeping secret records related to sealed cases did not apply to what he called a “novel and unique” situation because Williams had died before he could be charged with a crime.
“This is an important victory for public accountability,” declared Michael Linhorst, the Cornell Clinic’s local journalism attorney. “Under the NYPD’s theory, officers who killed a person would be able to permanently seal all the records showing what happened as long as they arrested the person for something before he died.”
On Monday, the NYPD did not immediately respond to The City Reporter’s questions about their response to the AG’s finding and whether they planned to appeal the court decision ordering the release of the records.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), a watchdog agency that monitors police misconduct, subsequently substantiated the allegation that Officer Perez used unnecessary force by pulling the car in front of Williams. Perez is contesting the finding via departmental disciplinary protocols, though no trial date has been set.
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