It’s been almost a year since an officer with the Utica Police Department (UPD) shot and killed Nyah Mway, a 13-year-old Karen refugee from Myanmar. Last month, the New York State Attorney General’s Office declined to press charges against the officer who shot Nyah. Instead, on May 15, UPD announced honors for Officer Patrick Husnay, as well as the other two officers who were present at the scene, Bryce Patterson and Andrew Citriniti. The three were listed in a UPD Facebook announcement among dozens of recipients of the department’s 2025 annual awards for “honorable service.”

UPD spokesperson Lt. Mike Curley told Prism the honorable service awards were not for Nyah’s shooting. Instead, they were “likely” for “previous gun seizure arrests,” he said.

Nyah’s family is still seeking justice. As the upstate New York community wrestles with the impact of the shooting, the family’s lawyer, Julia P. Kuan, confirmed to Prism this month that they intend to file a suit, though pleadings are not yet available.

“Our pursuit of justice is not only for Nyah, but for every family forced to suffer in silence,” Nyah’s family wrote in a statement after the AG report was released on April 2. “We will continue to seek truth, transparency, and accountability—not only in Nyah’s case, but to prevent this from happening to any other child.”

Attorney general report and response

According to UPD, around 10 p.m. on June 28, 2024, UPD officers and Oneida County sheriff’s deputies stopped Nyah and a friend on a sleepy residential street. UPD officers told the minors that the stop was because they were in the roadway, though police would later say they stopped Nyah because he matched the description of a robbery suspect. When a UPD officer asked to search Nyah, he bolted. While running, he turned toward Patterson and lifted an object later identified as a pellet gun. Patterson tackled Nyah, and as he was hitting him, Husnay came from behind and fired a shot into Nyah’s chest, killing him.

The New York Attorney General’s Office’s report on the shooting pulled investigative findings from its Office of Special Investigations. Husnay refused to be interviewed for the investigation. The report confirms UPD’s claim that its officers stopped Nyah and his friend because they believed them to match the descriptions of robbery suspects from the night prior, in part because they were Asian and wearing black hoodies.

Patterson told investigators that when Nyah turned and raised the pellet gun while running, Patterson believed his life was in danger and that he was “fighting for [his] life” while punching the teenager. Patterson claimed that he saw Nyah’s pellet gun fall out of his hands after Husnay had fired the shot; this moment is not captured on the officers’ body-worn cameras.

In a press release, the AG’s office said it decided not to pursue criminal charges because “a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that the officer’s use of deadly physical force against Mway was justified.”

Nyah’s family’s lawyers, Kuan and Earl S. Ward, said they were “disappointed with the Attorney General’s decision, but we will continue to fight for justice for Nyah Mway and his family.”

Their law firm,  Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP, previously secured a $6 million settlement with the city of Cleveland on behalf of the family of Tamir Rice. In 2014, Cleveland police shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir while he was playing with a replica gun immediately after arriving on the scene. The firm has also represented Tufts University doctoral candidate and Turkish international student Rümeysa Öztürk, who federal officials arrested for writing a pro-Palestine op-ed. Öztürk was recently released on a judge’s orders while her deportation case continues.

Shortly after Nyah’s shooting, the firm filed a notice of claim, which allowed them to later file a lawsuit against the city of Utica. The claim alleged wrongful death; excessive force; assault and battery; false arrest; civil rights violations; negligent hiring, training, and supervision; and conspiracy and failure to prevent or intervene in the unlawful acts. The city has so far denied wrongdoing.

Previously, UPD said the results of its internal investigation into the shooting would “likely be released in conjunction with the AG report.” Curley, the department spokesperson, told Prism in an email that the report is now near completion, pending a convening of the Use of Force Board. “After that, we will determine if any policy changes are required,” he wrote.

Community engagement

Through last summer and fall, community activists with Justice for Nyah Mway called for major policy and budget changes. Among them were calls for redirecting more funds to youth programming, removing police officers from schools, and firing the officers involved in Nyah’s shooting. But for many in city government, the primary concern remains youth gun violence.

According to Kay Klo, a community organizer and nonprofit leader at the center of last year’s protests, the mayor’s office has emphasized the gun violence narrative both in public and private. “Them hyperfocusing on the gun puts the blame on Nyah,” she said. While she said there has indeed been more funding for youth programming, it’s “not enough.”

“If the attorney general tells us we did something wrong,” Mayor Michael Galime said at a community meeting last summer, “then we will take all actions necessary.” He has emphasized that he does not believe the shooting was racist.

So far, the city’s approach to regaining trust in the Karen community, an internally diverse group of refugees who fled persecution in Myanmar, has focused on creating positive relationships. Around Christmas, some Karen community members went caroling at the UPD precinct.

“I think we would state that the relationship with the greater Karen/Burmese community has never been better,” Curley told Prism. “The City as a whole has spent considerable effort and time in attending meetings, community events, and creating relationships to better bonds.”

“They’re living in their own delusion,” Chris Sunderlin, a friend of the Mway family who supported the protests, said of Utica government officials. Individuals close to the protests say the city has selectively engaged with the Karen community, preferring not to be challenged. 

“I don’t know what community they’re referring to,” Sunderlin said, “but there’s not a single person that I have talked to about this that has any faith in our leadership.”

Editorial Team:
Sahar Fatima, Lead Editor
Carolyn Copeland, Top Editor
Rashmee Kumar, Copy Editor