An organizer with Justice for Nyah is glad to see a notice of claim filed against the city of Utica.
Spectrum News 1 was told by a family representative of 13-year-old Nyah Mway’s mother that she filed the notice against the city this month. The claim alleges wrongful death, excessive force and false arrest.
Mway was killed this summer after he ran from police. He showed police what looked like a Glock, but was actually a pellet gun. Police shot Mway while he was on the ground. The New York State Attorney General’s office is investigating what happened.
What You Need To Know
- An organizer with Justice for Nyah is glad to see Nyah Mway’s mother file a notice of claim against Utica
- The organizer says the group’s list of demands presented to the city haven’t been met
- Trust between city leaders and the refugee community needs to be rebuilt, the organizer said
Kay Klo is an organizer for Justice for Nyah.
“What the community would like to see is beyond an apology. I think an apology without accountability, without action, is hollow," Klo said.
The city of Utica previously released a statement, reiterating its sorrow, but its position on the matter hasn’t changed as members wait for results of the attorney general’s investigation.
As they and many others await the results, trust between the refugee community and city leaders continues to pose a challenge, according to Klo. Mway was a refugee born in Myanmar and a member of the Karen ethnic minority who had just graduated from middle school.
“It’s been almost three months since everything has happened and it's been about a month since we've delivered the community demands to the Common Council, and we've been quite disappointed with the lack of engagement with the community demands," said Klo.
The demands Klo is referring to are many, some of which include the city paying for funeral and burial costs for Mway, that the involved police officers are fired – regardless of the findings of the State Attorney General’s office’s investigation – and a demand for a “community controlled process in which the community is directly involved in holding the UPD accountable when it oversteps its bounds.”
“The first step towards rebuilding that trust is working with us to address certain demands that I think are reasonable. And those demands were created because with that in mind, that, how can we work together as a community to make sure that this doesn't happen again?" Klo said.
Klo said these demands have not been met, but she said she was told the mayor’s office is welcoming conversations and dialogue, and organizers plan to reach out.
Spectrum News 1 reached out to the Utica mayor’s office and common council president, and is awaiting a response.
