New York Attorney General Letitia James' Office of Special Investigation (OSI) has released a report on the death of Brandon Zurkan. Zurkan died on March 1, 2023, following an encounter with members of the Ontario County Sheriff's Office (OCSO) and City of Canandaigua Police Department (CPD) in Ontario County on February 28, 2023.
The investigation included a review of body-worn camera footage, witness cell phone footage, interviews with officers and civilian witnesses, and legal analysis. OSI concluded that it would not be possible to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that the officers' actions were justified under New York law.
On the evening of February 28, OCSO and CPD officers responded to a 911 call about a car driving erratically on Route 5 & 20 toward Canandaigua. The caller reported hearing gunshots or fireworks from the car. An OCSO officer pursued the vehicle into a parking lot where it crashed into a fence. The driver, Mr. Zurkan, exited with a gun in hand. Officers instructed him to drop the weapon for several minutes without compliance. Mr. Zurkan then appeared to raise his gun toward them, prompting officers to discharge their weapons and strike him. He was taken to a local hospital and died shortly after midnight on March 1.
Under New York's justification law, police may use deadly force if they reasonably believe it necessary for defense against deadly force by another person. In this incident, officers responded to reports of erratic driving with potential gunfire and encountered Mr. Zurkan armed with a gun who did not comply with orders to disarm and raised his weapon toward them. Based on these circumstances and evidence, OSI determined that criminal charges would not be pursued as it could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt that the use of deadly force was unjustified.