Utica police release body-worn camera footage of fatal shooting. | WUTR/WFXV

Lina Portman3 days ago

0 2 minutes read

UTICA, NY (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) – Utica police have released body camera footage of the three officers involved in a fatal shooting Friday evening that left a 13-year-old boy dead. The shooting happened Friday around 10:18 p.m. in the 900 block of Shaw Street near Lincoln Ave in West Utica. The fatal shot was fired by a Utica police officer after a brief foot chase of two youths as part of a police investigation into criminal activity in that area.

Police also confirmed the identity of the deceased, as reported by Eyewitness News, as Nyah Mway, 13, from Utica.

As announced during a press conference Saturday morning at Utica City Hall, police released body-worn camera footage of the three officers involved in the incident. They also released photos of the gun Mway was carrying at the time of the chase and when he was shot. A photo taken from body camera footage at the start of Mway's arrest by police was also released. In this photo, we clearly see a gun in the young man's hand.

Videos and photos posted by Utica Police can be viewed on a Google Drive link.

Police also released the names of the three officers involved in the chase and shooting. They are; Officer Patrick Husnay, a six-year veteran of the Utica Police Department, Officer Bryce Patterson, a four-year veteran of the Utica Police Department, and Officer Andrew Citriniti, who has been on the force for two years and a half after serving as sheriff of Oneida County. It was agent Husnay who fired the shot.

NOTICE – For those who wish to view the posted videos, there is the full duration of the incident and condensed versions of the incident. Video of the three officers is available. These videos contain footage of a fatal shooting. They also include profanity.

Utica police also offered this explanation of the circumstances surrounding the incident.

On June 28, these officers were proactively patrolling the West Utica area near Shaw Street to assist the Criminal Investigation Division (“CID”) in at least two recent theft investigations in which the suspects were described as Asian men holding up black clothing. firearm and forcibly demanded and stole the victims' property. In one of the incidents on June 27, the suspects were described as an Asian man and a dark-skinned man, with one on foot and the other on a bicycle. Based on the listed robbery identifying factors, officers approached Nyah Mway and the other juvenile because they matched the descriptions of the robbery suspects and were in close proximity to the previous robbery at almost the same time of day. Additionally, he was walking on the roadway in violation of New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law 1156a. At the time of the stop, officers were responding to requests from the Criminal Investigation Division to interview and identify individuals matching the characteristics of the robbery suspects, which, as noted, the two juveniles matched. As a result, the agents attempted to carry out a citizen check on the two 13-year-old minors.

As the Body Worn Camera (BWC) footage accompanying this release will show, when the police officers asked and went to search Nyah Mway, he immediately fled on foot. During his escape, he pulled out a replica GLOCK pellet gun from the front of his body and, during the 51 and 53 seconds marked on Officer Patterson's BWC, he pointed the gun directly at Officer Patterson and the other officers.

The three officers involved have been placed on paid leave while the investigation continues. The New York State Attorney General's Office is the lead agency in the criminal investigation. Utica police are conducting their own investigation into the incident regarding procedure and policy compliance.