Governor Andrew Cuomo today issued an executive order directing the New York State attorney general “to investigate and, if warranted, prosecute certain matters involving the death of an unarmed civilian … caused by a law enforcement officer.” Cuomo’s executive order comes after significant public demands for such an action, with growing dissatisfaction by many of those calling for such action that Cuomo had not yet acted. He signed the executive order during a press conference/order signing ceremony at Manhattan’s John Jay College. (Our press conference photo gallery is here.)
Cuomo was joined by a group of women whose sons have died at the hands of police, including Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, Constance Malcolm, mother of Ramarley Graham, Iris Baez, mother of Anthony Baez, Valerie Bell, mother of Sean Bell and Hawa Bah, mother of Mohamed Bah, who have been the public face of the push for a special prosecutor. Cuomo recently met with them after Carr and Malcolm published an op-ed accusing him of “backtracking” on his promises.
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