New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation (OSI) released its report on the death of Jarrel Garris, who died on July 10, 2023 after an encounter with members of the New Rochelle Police Department (NRPD) that occurred on July 3, 2023 in New Rochelle. Following a thorough investigation, which included review of body-worn camera footage and security camera video, interviews with involved officers, and comprehensive legal analysis, OSI concluded that a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that the officer’s use of force against Mr. Garris was justified under New York law. In its report, OSI recommends that NRPD update its training and policies for responding to petty nonviolent offenses to provide officers with objective criteria for assessing whether or not a situation warrants the use of physical force.
On the afternoon of July 3, NRPD officers responded to a complaint of a man who was eating items he had not paid for at a grocery store on Lincoln Avenue in New Rochelle. When the first officer arrived, she encountered Mr. Garris walking slowly outside of the store. The officer attempted to verbally engage Mr. Garris, asking him what he was doing and whether he was eating food in the grocery store. A second officer arrived and both officers attempted to verbally engage with Mr. Garris. Mr. Garris was not responding to the officers' questions when the third officer got to the scene.
The third officer placed one handcuff on Mr. Garris and a physical struggle ensued. The third officer directed the first officer to use her taser on Mr. Garris, but she could not get a clear shot and did not deploy it. At one point in the struggle, Mr. Garris had his hands on the second officer’s gun. The third officer noticed and yelled “gun!” before he discharged his service weapon, striking Mr. Garris. The officers began performing life-saving measures on Mr. Garris until an ambulance arrived. Mr. Garris was taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries on July 10, 2023.
Under New York’s justification law, a police officer may use deadly physical force when the officer reasonably believes it to be necessary to defend against the use of deadly physical force by another. In this case, Mr. Garris had his hands on one officer’s gun while they were attempting to arrest him. Another officer deployed his service weapon because he believed he needed to protect himself, the other officers, and any bystanders. Given the circumstances and based on the law and the evidence, a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that the officer’s use of deadly force was justified.
Currently, the NRPD’s training and policies direct officers to use their own discretion when determining whether or not to use physical force to make an arrest when responding to petty nonviolent offenses like the one in this case. Although it is not possible to know if a different approach would have changed the outcome in this specific matter, OSI recommends that NRPD update its training and policies for these matters to provide officers with objective criteria for assessing if using physical force to make an arrest is warranted. These trainings should involve real-world scenarios so that officers can become accustomed to the sorts of situations they may encounter in the field and the appropriate effective responses without relying on physical force in every case. The OSI recommends NRPD implement criteria including determinations such as whether:
- The individual is physically combative or passively noncompliant;
- There are ways to achieve compliance without physical force;
- Law enforcement personnel at the scene have been trained in de-escalation tactics or interacting with people experiencing mental health crises; and
- All methods of nonviolent de-escalation were exhausted.
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