The Brooklyn District Attorney will not pursue charges against two NYPD officers involved with fatally shooting a man who they say approached them with a 13-inch knife during a 2017 house call, the office announced Tuesday.
The Brooklyn DA informed the family of James Owens on Tuesday that the criminal investigation into his death is over, the office and relatives told The Post.
On Jan. 3, 2017, Officers Patrick Gourlay and Kurt Fitzcharles encountered Owens, 63, after responding to a 911 call of an emotionally disturbed person inside a residence on 99th Street in Canarsie, court papers state.
Rev. Daisy Wright, Owens’ sister, had called an ambulance for her brother but the officers were sent out first, she told The Post on Tuesday.
Police say that when the cops stepped inside the residence, Owens emerged from a back room, picked up a large knife from the kitchen and moved for the officers.
The NYPD says that Fitzcharles acted first, firing a Taser at Owens. But when the Taser didn’t work, Gourlay shot Owens three times in the torso, police said.
Wright, however, insists that she was standing right next to her brother when the officer fired the fatal shots — and she claims that Gourlay actually fired first and that Fitzcharles used his Taser while Owens was bleeding on the floor.
The DA’s office didn’t comment further on the results of its investigation, beyond saying than there’s “no criminality.”
Owens’ nephew Jonathan Martin said he now feels “betrayed by the system that’s supposed to protect us” over the lack of charges.
A $20 million civil lawsuit filed by Owens’ daughter had been put on pause while the DA investigated the matter for possible criminal charges.
The lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court in 2018, will now move forward, said Sanford Rubenstein, an attorney for the daughter.
“This was a 911 call for help,” Rubenstein said. “Instead of helping this mentally ill man, he was killed by police.”
The NYPD confirmed that the officers are still on full duty but would not comment on the case. The city’s Law Department declined to comment.
Gourlay could not be reached for comment, and Fitzcharles did not respond to a request for comment.