New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation (OSI) released its report on the death of Raul Hardy, who died on July 9, 2022, after an encounter with members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in Queens. Following a thorough investigation, which included a review of body-worn camera footage, interviews with involved officers, and comprehensive legal analysis, OSI concluded that a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that the officers’ actions against Mr. Hardy were justified under New York law.
On the evening of July 9, NYPD officers were dispatched to Mr. Hardy’s residence in St. Albans, Queens after Mr. Hardy made multiple calls to 911. During the calls, Mr. Hardy gave his name and address, threatened to shoot elected officials and police officers, and said he would shoot any officers who came to his house. When officers arrived at the residence, Mr. Hardy came outside armed with a gun. Officers instructed Mr. Hardy to drop the weapon; however, he did not comply and instead aimed the gun at the officers. An exchange of gunfire ensued between Mr. Hardy and the officers. Mr. Hardy was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead; a gun was recovered at the scene.
Under New York’s justification law, a police officer may use deadly physical force when the officer reasonably believes it necessary to defend against deadly physical force by another individual. In this case, given that Mr. Hardy had threatened public officials' lives and confronted officers with a gun outside his home, OSI determined that it would be unlikely for a prosecutor to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of deadly force by officers was justified.
The report also highlighted that responding officers anticipated potentially volatile interactions with an individual experiencing a mental health crisis when they were dispatched to Mr. Hardy’s residence. OSI recommends that NYPD implement regular annual or biannual training for patrol sergeants and patrol lieutenants on how they and their teams interact with civilians experiencing mental health crises—aiming to avoid violence or deadly force through effective tactical planning and de-escalation strategies based on real-world scenarios.
After reviewing NYPD's current training curricula and materials related to interacting with individuals experiencing mental health crises, OSI concluded supervisors would benefit from more frequent trainings involving real-world scenarios and hands-on experience.