At the end of the first day of the Civilian Complaint Review Board trial against the two NYPD officers involved in the shooting death of their son, Ellen and Rickie Trawick reiterated their calls for accountability.
"We want these two officers fired. Kawaski should still be here with his family today," Ellen Trawick said.
What You Need To Know
- NYPD officer Brendan Thompson is charged with use of force, and his partner, Herbert Davis, is charged with failure to render aid in a Civilian Complaint Review Board trial
- Police say Kawaski Trawick rushed at the officers with a knife before Thompson opened fire back in 2019
- The Trawick family is calling for accountability after the district attorney declined to bring charges and an internal NYPD investigation found no wrongdoing
NYPD officer Brendan Thompson is charged with use of force. His partner, Herbert Davis, is charged with failure to render aid. Last week, an NYPD-appointed judge dismissed one of the misconduct charges related to illegal entry.
Surveillance and NYPD body camera video captured the deadly confrontation between Kawaski Trawick, 32, and the officers back in 2019.
Police say Trawick rushed at the officers with a knife before Thompson opened fire. It happened after Trawick got locked out of his home in Morris Heights and called 911 to report a fire in his apartment. Firefighters arrived and opened the door before leaving.
Then Thompson and Davis arrived, responding to reports that Trawick had been yelling and banging on doors with a stick.
"They failed to deescalate. They failed to isolate, failed to communicate," Royce Russell, an attorney for the Trawick family, said.
Russell says the strongest evidence presented at the trial is the video, which he believes shows that Thompson was eager to use deadly force.
"The video was displayed and if that's taken and dissected I think the truth will speak volumes. We don't really need to say much," Russell said.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark declined to bring criminal charges against the officers, and an internal NYPD force investigation found no wrongdoing.
The Trawicks, who are from Georgia, are hoping that the administrative trial brings some measure of what they say would be justice.
“Kawaski was a person who moved to New York in pursuit of a dream and that was taken away from him. He was not violent. He was not a threat to those two officers," Ellen Trawick said.
If an administrative law judge finds that the officers violated department rules, they could face penalties, including termination, but the final decision lies with the police commissioner.