NEW YORK – The State Attorney General’s Special Investigations Office has cleared two Putnam County deputies in the fatal shooting of a suspect in thew Town of Southeast.
The incident occurred on the morning of January 10 when local police and deputies responded to a 911 call reporting a kidnapping.
Deputies found Christopher Torres, the alleged kidnapper, stabbing another person with a knife. Deputies ordered Torres to drop his weapon, but he repeatedly refused to comply.
When he moved the knife to the person’s throat, two deputies opened fire and killed him. The knife was recovered at the scene.
Under the state’s justification law, a person may use deadly physical force to defend against the imminent use of deadly physical force by another person.
When the defense of justification is raised at trial, the prosecution must disprove justification beyond a reasonable doubt.
In this case, the attorney general’s office said Torres was actively harming another person with a knife and ignoring requests to stop.
Under those circumstances, given the law and the evidence, a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that the deputies involved were justified in their actions, and the Office of Special Investigations determined that criminal charges could not be warranted, the attorney general said.
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