Utica residents question mayor after police killing of 13-year-old boy

More than 100 residents of Utica, New York, mourning the death of a 13-year-old boy shot by a police officer there last week gathered at a church Sunday afternoon to demand accountability for his killing.

The boy, Nyah Mway, was walking with another boy in the city on Friday night when they were stopped by three police officers. When one of the officers tried to pat her down, Nyah fled, footage from the officers’ body-worn cameras shows.

Police said in a statement that Nyah “displayed what appeared to be a gun” as he ran. In slow-motion footage, he can be seen turning around while holding what appears to be a gun before he is tackled, pushed to the ground and shot.

Police later discovered that he was carrying an air rifle.

On Sunday, Utica Mayor Michael P. Galime answered questions from residents who filled the auditorium of Tabernacle Baptist Church. Police officers were not present.

Almost all of the participants were members of the city’s Karen community – an ethnic group from Myanmar, formerly Burma, who speak the Karen language. Nyah’s family members are Karen refugees.

In Utica, a city of about 60,000 people, refugees and their families make up about a quarter of the population.

Nyah’s killing was the first time a Karen person had been killed by police in the United States, Mr. Galime said at the meeting, which was live-streamed on a Facebook page of the Utica Karen community.

“As I stand here today, I am not asking you to stop being angry,” he said. “I am not standing here telling you to hide your grief and your feelings.”

Residents, some of whom spoke through an interpreter, questioned the mayor about the protocols officers followed when pursuing people and asked what would happen next to the officers involved in the shooting. They asked Mr. Galime how he could prevent what happened to Nyah from happening to another child. Many expressed anger at the circumstances of Nyah’s death: He was already on the ground and subdued by officers when he was shot.

On Saturday evening, police identified the three officers. Patrick Husnay, a six-year veteran of the Utica Police Department, was the officer who shot Nyah, police said. The others were identified as Bryce Patterson, a four-year veteran, and Andrew Citriniti, who has been on the force for two and a half years.

Throughout Sunday’s gathering, Mr. Galime stressed that the New York Attorney General’s office would decide whether the officer’s use of force was justified. Although Mr. Galime often said he could not answer questions about the officers’ decisions because he was not there in person or because it was the jurisdiction of state officials, he told the crowd, “I did not see any anger.”

“I saw three officers trying to do their jobs,” he said. “And the end result was the worst outcome we could imagine.”

The meeting, which lasted about two and a half hours, was mostly peaceful, but at one point organizers had to step in and calm several people down after a woman, upset by the mayor’s comments at a press conference the previous day, when he expressed sympathy for the police officers in the presence of Nyah’s family members, shouted at him.

Others joined her and shared her frustration.

Another woman called on the mayor to “take sides,” saying the boys were stopped because of their race. “It’s unfair,” she told the mayor.

The mayor disagreed, arguing that he had reviewed the footage and there was “no evidence or indication that racism was present.”

According to a police statement, the three officers stopped the boys while investigating recent robberies in which the suspects were described as Asian males brandishing a black firearm and “violently demanding and stealing property from victims.” The boys were approached because they matched the description, police said, and they were near the scene of the robberies at the same time of day.

Police have also released a series of videos taken from officers’ body-worn cameras. In one clip, an officer approaches the two boys, one of whom is on a bicycle. Two more officers approach and begin to circle the boys with their flashlights. The first officer then asks if they can pat down the boys to “make sure you don’t have any weapons on you.”

According to police, Nyah then fled on foot.

In slowed-down footage, Officer Patterson can be seen pursuing him. When Nyah appears to turn around, holding what appears to be a gun, the officer yells “Gun!” and charges at him.

Officer Husnay’s body camera video shows him running after the two and drawing his weapon as he approaches them.

As Officer Patterson and Nyah struggle on the ground, a gunshot is heard. The officers, including Officer Husnay, immediately step back, the footage shows.

Nyah was taken to a hospital where he died, police said.

In addition to the Attorney General’s investigation, police are investigating the incident, Police Chief Mark Williams said at Saturday’s press conference. All officers involved have been placed on leave with pay, he said.

On Saturday night, Utica residents gathered near the scene for a vigil in honor of the boy. Some lit candles and others brought Mylar balloons in the shape of the number 13, Nyah’s age.

Earlier on the same day, Lay Htoo, who claimed to be a close relative of Nyah, said his family wanted justice for his murder.

The boy’s mother “wants the police officer to stay in prison forever,” he said.