On April 14, 2019, 32-year-old Kawaski Trawick, a Black queer man, was locked out of his apartment at Hill House in the Bronx. The fire department let him into his apartment. By the time NYPD officers Brendan Thompson and Herbert Davis arrived, Kawaski was already back in his apartment cooking. Officer Davis broke the chain off his door to illegally gain entry into his home. Kawaski asked the officers, “Why are you in my home?” and told them, “I’m cooking.” The officers repeatedly escalated the incident. Thompson and Davis shouted orders at him and refused to answer Kawaski’s questions. Thompson tased him without cause and then shot and killed Kawaski within 112 seconds of their arrival.
The NYPD sensationalized that Kawaski was holding a bread knife to justify shooting him; however, he held a knife because he was cooking in his home. Only one officer, Brendan Thompson, had his body-worn camera. The NYPD refused to release complete, unedited footage of the incident for almost two years – only releasing unedited footage to a legal organization, following a FOIL request. In December 2020, the NYPD released a selectively edited and incomplete video of the killing. Officers on the scene can be heard saying, “Nobody, just a perp” immediately after Kawaski’s killing in response to an officer asking if anyone was injured. It is also clear from footage that Thompson and Davis did not directly provide care to Kawaski after he was shot.
In April 2021, it was made public through a ProPublica report that the NYPD found “no wrongdoing” n the NYPD killing of Kawaski Trawick. Kawaski’s family found out about the refusal to discipline Thompson and Davis through the news media.
WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
The CCRB substantiated charges against officer Brendan Thompson and Herbert Davis including abuse of authority for entering Kawaski’s home, failing to obtain medical treatment, use of force against Kawaski, and pointing and firing a gun at Kawaski. The family is calling on the NYPD to immediately schedule disciplinary trials for the officers.
Help uplift the demands of Kawaski’s Family:
- Demand the NYPD schedule the discipline trials for NYPD Officers Brendan Thompson and Herbert Davis.
- Demand the Mayor and the NYPD fire Officers Brendan Thompson and Herbert Davis
