A disciplinary hearing began on April 24 for the NYPD officer involved in the shooting death of 32-year-old Kawaski Trawick.
Trawick, a Black man, was shot to death in his own apartment in the Bronx on April 14, 2019.
After the police arrived at his apartment at approximately 11:06 p.m., Thompson, who is white, and Davis, who is Black, found Trawick inside his apartment and holding a serrated bread knife and a long stick. Davis, the more experienced officer, repeatedly told Thompson not to use his Taser but he was ignored. The footage captured Davis repeatedly directing Thompson not to deploy his Taser or weapon.
“Why are you in my home?” Trawick repeatedly asked the officers. “Put it down,” Davis replied as Thompson said, “Oh, he’s got a knife.”
“Yeah, I know,” Davis replied.
“I got a knife because I’m cooking,” said Trawick, who went on to say he’d been locked out, but the fire department let him inside. The FDNY had arrived earlier and let Trawick inside his apartment after he falsely reported a fire in his apartment, forcing firefighters to break into the residence.
The police had been called to the Hill House apartment building, a social services center because they had gotten calls from a security guard saying Trawick was banging on neighbors’ doors in the building.
“Don’t, don’t, don’t,” said Davis as he signaled for Thompson to step back. “We ain’t gonna taze him.”
Thompson pulled out his gun and pointed it at Trawick as he said, “Drop the knife.” He also pulled out his Taser and used it on Trawick, who became upset and began screaming as the officers entered his apartment. Davis then tried to stop Thompson from shooting Trawick by pushing down his gun and saying, “No, no, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t” as they backed out of the apartment.
Trawick got up and yelled, “I’m gonna kill all of you,” as Thompson backed away while raising his gun and firing at Trawick from the hallway. Thompson fired four shots and hit Trawick twice as he slammed the door shut. Davis is seen backing away and covering his ear as the shots were being fired.
The shooting was investigated by the district attorney’s office, which declined to prosecute the officers.
According to ProPublica, when another officer arrived on the scene and asked if anyone had been hurt, both officers replied, “Nobody. Just a perp.”
The shooting occurred just 112 seconds after the NYPD officers arrived on the scene. An internal investigation found that the officers were justified in the shooting and that “no wrongdoing was found,” but the investigators never asked the officers about Davis instructing Thompson not to deploy his weapons. Thompson told investigators, “I feared for my safety.”
The New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board pursued disciplinary charges against both Davis and Thompson years later for wrongfully entering Trawick’s apartment and failing to render medical aid after Thompson shot him. Thompson is also facing disciplinary use-of-force charges.
Trawick’s parents, Ellen and Ricky Trawick, came in for the hearing from Georgia and said the police murdered their son. His parents said that Trawick had moved to New York City to pursue a career in dance.
“These two officers need to be fired for killing Kawaski,” said his mother, Ellen.
“Murdered my son,” added his father, Ricky. “Murder. That’s what — he murdered my son.”
The family’s attorney, Royce Russell, added that the officers failed to de-escalate the situation as their training dictated.
“They failed to de-escalate,” said Russell. “They failed to isolate. They failed to communicate. There’s no way that someone can be in their home – their home is their castle – then wind up dead on the floor.”
Both Davis and Thompson remain on active duty as the disciplinary review continues. The officers face termination if the judge finds they violated NYPD rules, but the final decision is up to the NYPD commissioner.
Former NYPD detective John Baeza told ProPublica that investigators intentionally failed to ask the officers about the video footage.
“That’s huge, they intentionally did that,” said Baeza. “That has to be intent not to question them about that.”
The disciplinary trial recommenced on May 11.
