At a rally outside 1 Police Plaza on Thursday, a coalition of youth groups and elected officials demanded that the two officers involved in the fatal shooting of Kawaski Trawick, a Black gay man, four years ago be fired.
The rallygoers urged Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Police Commissioner Edward Caban to follow the recommendation of the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) and terminate Brendan Thompson and Herbert Davis for their roles in the shooting during their response to a 911 call on April 14, 2019.
It’s been almost three months since the CCRB made that recommendation after ending its disciplinary trial for the two officers on May 11 . Yet both Thompson and Davis remain on the job, and participants in Thursday’s rally demanded answers and action from the mayor and the commissioner.
Youth activists from groups such as Make the Road New York, Sister Sol, Future of Tomorrow and others started out with a protest at City Hall Park, then marched over to nearby 1 Police Plaza — where located elected officials joined them in their quest for justice for Trawick and his family.
Davina Ramirez, a youth leader with ‘Make the Road New York,’ said that the youth groups are fighting on behalf of Trawick’s parents, Ellen and Rickie Trawick, who live in Georgia.
“We will fight and keep fighting for Kawasaki and all the New Yorkers who are less safe, feel less safe while Mayor Adams and the New York NYPD delay firing officer Brendan Thompson and Herbert Davis,” Ramirez said.
Trawick, a dancer and dance instructor, had locked himself out of his home in Morris Heights and called 911, falsely claiming “that the building was on fire.” Firefighters arrived, opened the door for the then-32-year-old Trawick, and left.
Officers Thompson and Davis arrived shortly after, responding to a separate 911 call that Trawick had been banging on doors with a stick and yelling.
Trawick was cooking when the two officers entered his home without permission….
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