New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) recommended that the New York Police Department (NYPD) no longer conduct traffic stops as a way of trying to prevent violent encounters.
James, who also acts as a special prosecutor to investigate some police killings, made the recommendation Friday as she released a report into the death of Allan Feliz, who was killed last October after police stopped him for a seat belt violation.
ames said her investigation could not conclude that the use of deadly force was unjustified in the Feliz case but that the sequence of events that led to his killing would not have happened if the NYPD had not pulled him over. Tensions were heightened in the encounter when officers tried to arrest him for outstanding warrants for offenses such as spitting, littering and disorderly conduct.
James went on to recommend that if the NYPD decides to preserve officers’ role in traffic stops that it scrap a policy encouraging police to arrest any motorist they stop who has open warrants.