Nyah Mway, a 13-year-old refugee from Myanmar, had just graduated from middle school in New York when he was shot and killed by a police officer at point-blank range after another officer had tackled and punched the boy last year.
Utica police say they shot him because he was holding a gun, making them fear for their lives as they chased him on foot. But the gun turned out to be a pellet gun.
In April, Utica police officers Patrick Husnay and Bryce Patterson were cleared of wrongdoing by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office. Husnay was the cop who shot him dead while Patterson was the cop who tackled and punched him.
On Wednesday, the boy’s family filed a federal lawsuit against Husnay and the city of Utica, accusing the defendants of excessive force, battery, assault and accuses the city of reckless hiring, training, supervision, discipline, staffing and retention.
The lawsuit which lists the boy’s mother, Chee War, as the plaintiff, was filed by New York law firms Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP and Camareri & Brenneck, PLLC.
According to the claim:
Officer Patterson was on top of Nyah, using his body and left arm to pin him down on the ground, while forcefully punching Nyah in the face with his right fist. Nyah, being only 5’ 5” and 111 pounds, was completely restrained and inert.
Less than a second later, at 10:19:03 PM, Defendant Husnay ran up to where Officer Patterson was on top of Nyah.
Three seconds later, at 10:19:06 PM, while Officer Patterson was still on top of Nyah punching him, Defendant Husnay without cause or justification fired a single bullet into Nyah’s left chest, penetrating his heart and lung—killing him.
Twenty seconds after firing the shot that killed Nyah, at 10:19:26 PM, Defendant Husnay recovered the pellet gun in a grassy area several feet from where Nyah laid bleeding out from the gunshot wound.
Stopped for Jaywalking
Utica police had stopped Nyah, who was accompanied by a friend on a bicycle, for jaywalking, but police said they were really stopping the boys because they matched the descriptions of a couple of armed robbery suspects who were seen on video robbing people at gunpoint of their phones, wallet and backpacks.
Body camera footages shows Patterson telling Nyah to take his hands out of his pocket and the boy responding by lifting his arms in the air.
However, when Patterson asked if he could pat him down to search him for weapons, Nyah took off running, prompting Patterson to run after him.
“He’s got a gun!” Patterson yells as Nyah can be seen holding a black object in his hand as he is running away.
Patterson tackles and punches him, which was captured on video recorded by a woman witnessing the action.
Seconds later, Husnay runs up behind Patterson and fires a single shot into the boy’s chest. He then picks up a gun near the boy’s body and said it appears to be a .22 caliber.
A distraught bystander is repeatedly heard yelling, “Oh my God! He just shot him!”
Nyah was pronounced dead later that evening at a local hospital.
The lawsuit states that Nyah and his family had resettled in Utica in 2015 after fleeing genocide in Myanmar, which is formerly known as Burma and still referred to by that name by many refugees.
Nyah and his family belong to the Karen ethnic minority. Since shortly after Burma obtained independence from British colonialism in 1948, the Burmese ethnic majority has conducted targeted campaigns of violence against the Karen—firing indiscriminately at and burning down Karen villages; destroying food and aid; arresting and detaining Karen people on the merest suspicions; using widespread sexual and physical violence, including beatings, rape, and summary executions; forcibly relocating entire Karen communities; subjecting Karen people to forced labor and labor camps; using Karen people as human shields; recruiting Karen child soldiers; and laying landmines in Karen civilian areas.
Running terrified for their lives from Burma, Nyah and his family spent ten years in the Umpiem refugee camp before coming to Utica in 2015. Since resettling in Utica, Nyah and his family thrived, building a home and community for themselves, glad to be finally safe from the violence.
The Attorney General’s Report
After a ninth-month investigation, the New York Attorney General’s Office cleared the officers of wrongdoing on the basis that it was impossible to tell whether the pellet gun the boy was holding was real.
According to the 18-page report from the attorney general’s office.
BWC showed that Nyah Mway, during the foot pursuit, pointed an apparent handgun at Officer Patterson, who yelled, “Gun. He’s got a gun. He’s got a gun.” After falling in the roadway and being thrown on to the sidewalk, Nyah Mway continued to hold the weapon. BWC showed that as Officer Husnay approached the sidewalk, he yelled, “Drop it. F***ing Drop It.”
Nyah Mway continued to hold the weapon. When interviewed by OSI, Officer Patterson said he saw Nyah Mway drop the gun after he was shot. Though OSI has determined that Nyah Mway possessed a pellet gun replica of a Glock pistol, Officer Husnay’s statements after the shooting indicate he believed it was an actual firearm.
OSI concludes a prosecutor would not be able to disprove that it was reasonable for Officer Husnay to believe he needed to use deadly physical force under these circumstances. Therefore, OSI will not seek charges against Officer Husnay in connection with the death of Nyah Mway and closes the matter with the issuance of this report.
Nyah, who had graduated from middle school the day before his death, had aspirations to become a doctor, the claim states.
His eldest brother had suffered a leg injury in the refugee camp when he was three years old, and it had never healed. Nyah loved his siblings and wanted to heal his brother’s leg where other doctors had failed.
“My son Nyah was a good boy, a wonderful son with a bright future,” Nyah’s mother said in a statement to local media.
“I love him and miss him, and I cry every day thinking about my beautiful boy.”
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