No charges for cop who fatally shot Far Rockaway man
/
State Attorney General Letitia James issued a report this week recommending that no charges should be filed against a police officer who fatally shot a Far Rockaway man in 2022. Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
The State Attorney General’s Office said last week that the NYPD officer who fatally shot a man in Far Rockaway last December during a foot pursuit will not face charges.
After an investigation, the AG determined that they would not be able to prove that Officer James Cameron defied the law when he shot and killed Quayshawn Samuel after a chase and a physical altercation toward the end of last year.
Just before New Year’s last December, NYPD officers from the 101st Precinct approached an apartment building on Beach 54th Street in the Arverne section of the Rockaway Peninsula to “investigate potential criminal activity.”
Cameron, Officer Ryan Nohilly and NYPD Sergeant Sean Rafferty, all of whom were members of the controversial Neighborhood Safety Team, approached the lobby of the building where a group of men were standing at the time. Once the officers approached, Samuel fled the scene through a back door and was pursued on foot by Cameron and Nohilly.
According to the 18-page attorney general report, Samuel and Cameron ran through the grounds of the Ocean Bay apartment complex, and onto the street at the corner of Beach Channel Drive and Beach 56th Street, where Samuel fell, allowing Cameron to catch up.
After a brief physical altercation which can be seen from a distance on security footage, Samuel pushed himself up off the ground, and according to Cameron, raised a firearm. Cameron fired his own weapon, striking Samuel twice. Samuel was taken to Jamaica Hospital where he died from a gunshot wound to his torso.
In accordance with state law, the AG’s office carried out an investigation into the officer involved shooting, which provided more details into the incident, some of which are being questioned by the attorney for Samuel’s family.
“In this case, [the AG’s office] concludes that a prosecutor would not be able to disprove that it was reasonable for Officer Cameron to believe that deadly physical force was necessary to defend himself from what he believed to be the use or imminent use of deadly physical force by Mr. Samuel,” the report read.
The major aspect of the report, and one where Samuel’s family’s attorney, Ilya Novofastovsky, has questions, is the NYPD’s assertion that Samuel had a gun, and if and when he pointed it at Cameron in the final moments of the altercation.
According to the report, Cameron, who has been in the NYPD since 2019, thought Samuel had a gun before the chase began.
“Based on how [Samuel’s] right hand was positioned near his waist, with his elbow raised, and his hand clutching at his waist,” the report read.
However, Novofastovsky questions that assertion, since he says Samuel was wearing sweatpants at the time, and argues that it would be hard to hold a gun in the waistband of the pants, especially as Samuel was running and hopping fences.
In the final moments of the altercation, Cameron said he was on top of Samuel and could see the gun, but repeatedly told Samuel to drop it.
Cameron said he heard Samuel say, “I dropped it,” but still saw the gun in his right hand. The officer allegedly told Samuel to again drop it, and when he didn’t drop anything, Cameron fired two fatal shots.
“He wouldn’t drop the gun. I told him multiple times to drop the gun,” Cameron is heard saying on body camera footage from Nohilly, who arrived at the scene moments after the shooting, the report says.
A gun was recovered next to Samuel on his left side, on the opposite hand Cameron said Samuel was holding it, and is seen in screenshots of Nohilly’s body cam footage.
Attorney General Letitia James’ office issued a report in the fatal police shooting of Queens man Quayshawn Samuuel last week. AP file photo by Seth Wenig
Cameron’s body camera, as well as his radio, allegedly fell off during the early parts of the pursuit, and although was eventually recovered, did not have usable footage.
The gun, a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol, was found to have one live round in the chamber. A magazine was also recovered from the area where Samuel stumbled and fell on Beach Channel Drive.
Another major sticking point for Novofastovsky was that Samuel’s DNA was not found on the gun.
“We know that it does have DNA, just that Quayshawn is not a contributor,” Novofastovsky told the Eagle.
According to the report, fingerprint dusting found four contributors, none of which were Samuel, and it also says that three officers, including Cameron, handled the pistol without gloves.
Asako Ishii, the analyst who performed the DNA analysis for the Office of the Medical Examiner, said that any surface contact with the item “will affect the presence of the DNA,” including “contact with the ground, clothing, or another individual.”
Then there are the accounts of a witness, provided to the AG’s office through Novofastovsky, who has a contradictory account of events.
K.B., as the witness is named in the report, was driving by and stopped to watch the altercation in December of 2022.
K.B. said he heard one gunshot as he got out of his car and approached Beach 56th Street, and saw two or three officers struggling with Samuel and yelling, “he has a gun,” before one of the officers fired a second shot, striking Samuel.
Camera footage shows only Cameron struggling with Samuel at the time of the shooting. K.B. also said that Samuel did not have a gun.
Novofastovsky also takes issue with how the entire incident began.
The report explains that another officer, John Wilson, told Cameron, Nohilly and an NYPD sergeant to go to the lobby after seeing the group on a live video feed, and seeing men “smoking a marihuana joint and drinking alcohol,” but with no specific crime taking place.
Samuel was convicted of attempted murder for a 2012 shooting and served almost 8-years in prison. He was released in May 2022, and was supposed to be on parole until June of this year. It’s unclear if the officers knew of Samuel’s criminal history before the encounter.
“When police are not following their own procedure, bad things happen,” Novofastovsky said.
Novofastovsky also was critical of the report, which he said does not go into enough depth because it only decides if the AG would have enough evidence to prosecute a case.
“The attorney general's office just wants to know if they have an easy case for murder,” he said.
He also argues they did not do enough to talk to other potential witnesses or members of the community.
“By relying on this unit from the attorney general's office, it's almost doing a disservice because everyone thinks it's being investigated,” Novofastovsky said.
The NYPD and the Civilian Complaint Review Board did not respond to the Eagle’s request for comment on the report and the incident.
