By Forum Staff
State Attorney General Tish James on Friday announced that the AG’s Office of Special Investigations has concluded that that a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that police officers’ use of deadly physical force in a 2023 shooting in Jamaica was justified under the law.
Bashe McDaniel died on Dec. 29, 2023 after an encounter with members of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police. Two MTA cops shot and killed McDaniel in front of 91-04 Sutphin Blvd. after McDaniel fired a round from a gun he had in his waistband area while the officers were attempting to handcuff him. A gun was recovered from McDaniel and recovered ballistics evidence showed that McDaniel fired at least one shot.
Photo Courtesy of State AG
The weapon Bashe McDaniel was holding in his waistband.
The two officers were searching for a suspect on Sutphin Boulevard following a report of an alleged sexual assault. At approximately 10:20 p.m., they spotted McDaniel, who appeared to match a photograph they had of him, and attempted to arrest him. McDaniel resisted being handcuffed, and he and the officers fell to the ground, where, during the struggle, McDaniel’s firearm discharged and struck him in the abdomen. The officers discharged their service weapons in response, striking McDaniel. The incident was captured on the cops’ body-worn cameras.
OSI assesses every incident reported to it where a police officer or a peace officer, including a corrections officer, may have caused the death of a person by an act or omission.
