By Forum Staff
State Attorney General Tish James on Tuesday announced that her Office of Special Investigation has concluded that a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that a City cop’s use of deadly force during an encounter last year with a violent suspect in Jamaica was justified under New York law.
On the evening of July 4, 2024, NYPD officers responded to a report of an assault in progress involving a knife at an apartment in Jamaica. When officers arrived, they encountered Pedro Felix, 20, who was engaged in a struggle with his father and had a knife in his hand. Officers repeatedly ordered Felix to drop the knife, but he did not comply. An officer discharged his service weapon, striking Felix. He was rushed to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Officers recovered two knives at the scene.
Photo Courtesy of AG James
State AG Tish James this week cleared the cop who shot Felix.
Cops also found Felix’s 8-year-old brother in the apartment with stab wounds. The child was rushed to a hospital, where he later died. Felix’s parents were treated for stab wounds and discharged.
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, officers were responding to a report of an assault in progress. When officers arrived at the scene, bystanders informed them that a woman had come out of the apartment bleeding. When cops encountered Felix inside the apartment, he was holding his dad in a headlock with a knife in his hand and ignored repeated demands to drop the weapon. Under these circumstances, given 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 physical force against Felix was justified, and therefore OSI determined that criminal charges would not be pursued in this matter.
