N.Y. AG OSI Report: Officer’s Deadly Force Against Weber Justified

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation (OSI) has released a scathing report on the October 10, 2023, shooting death of Alan Weber by Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) officers in East Northport.

The OSI concluded that a prosecutor could not disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer’s use of deadly force was justified under New York law. On the night of the incident, officers responded to a 911 call reporting a man breaking things inside his residence. They encountered Weber armed with fencing swords and refused to comply with orders to drop them.

Despite repeated attempts to subdue him with a taser, Weber advanced towards the officers, leading to the officer’s use of deadly force. OSI also criticized SCPD’s Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) program, recommending all officers be required to complete it to learn de-escalation techniques and suggest that responding officers should first determine if the individual is an immediate danger before engaging.

The OSI acknowledged the dangers of a civilian crisis response team engaging with Weber but recommended that SCPD officers call Emergency Services Unit (ESU) officers or the DASH mobile crisis response team for non-immediate danger situations. The report, however, finds no grounds to charge the officer involved in the shooting.

New York’s justification law allows police officers to use deadly force when they reasonably believe it is necessary to defend against the use of deadly physical force by another. In this case, OSI determined that given the circumstances, the officer’s actions were justified. Despite these findings, OSI has made several recommendations aimed at improving SCPD’s handling of mental health crises.