Attorney General James' Office of Special Investigation Releases Report on Death of Brian Astarita

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation today released its report on the death of Brian Astarita, who died on November 11, 2021, in Brooklyn. Following a thorough investigation, including review of body-worn camera (BWC) footage, civilian cell phone videos, evidence from the scene, and witness interviews, OSI concluded that charges against the officers who fired their service weapons are not warranted in this matter.

In the afternoon of November 11, 2021, an officer with the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Highway Patrol Unit #2 (Highway 2) was conducting radar enforcement on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, where the speed limit is 50 MPH. The radar scanner clocked a Jeep Grand Cherokee driving 71 MPH, so the officer turned on her car’s lights and sirens and directed the driver of the Jeep to pull over. When the officer approached Mr. Astarita, who was in the driver’s seat, and asked for his license and registration, Mr. Astarita said that he did not have a license because it had been suspended, and then sped away. The officer ran back to her police car and pursued Mr. Astarita, repeatedly pulling in front of the Jeep in an attempt to slow him down.

The officer called over the radio asking for assistance before she was able to get Mr. Astarita to stop the Jeep a few exits down from the initial stop. Another NYPD Highway 2 officer responded to her radio call and pulled up in front of her in a second patrol car. Both officers got out of their respective cars and began to approach the Jeep when Mr. Astarita got out, pulled what appeared to be a black, semiautomatic handgun out of the back seat, and pointed it at the officers. The officers repeatedly directed Mr. Astarita to drop his weapon, but he continued to point the gun at the officers and yelled at them to let him go. The officers both fired at Mr. Astarita, striking his legs and shoulders, until they were able to disarm him. The officers began life-saving measures and called for an ambulance. Mr. Astarita was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Officers recovered Mr. Astarita’s weapon at the scene. It was later determined to be a BB gun, though there were not any markings on the gun that distinguished it from a firearm.

Under New York’s justification law, a person may use deadly physical force to defend against the imminent use of deadly physical force by another. To convict a person of a crime when the defense of justification is raised at trial, the prosecution must disprove justification beyond a reasonable doubt.

In this case, evidence indicates that when Mr. Astarita pointed his weapon at the officers in the presence of civilians and refused to drop it, the officers who shot Mr. Astarita reasonably believed that he could cause fatal harm to them or an innocent bystander. Under these circumstances, given the law and the evidence, a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers who fired were justified, and OSI determined that criminal charges could not be pursued against the officers.