As demonstrators across the nation continue to protest the clearing of two cops for the shooting deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, both unarmed black men, New York state's highest prosecutor has asked the governor for the power to probe police killings of unarmed civilians.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday asking for a temporary executive order allowing him to investigate future police killings of unarmed civilians in the state, citing a need to address the "crisis of confidence" in the criminal justice system, Reuters reported.
"The horrible events surrounding the deaths of Eric Garner have revealed a deep crisis of confidence in some of the fundamental elements of our criminal justice system," Schneiderman said in a statement obtained by Reuters.
"Nothing could be more critical for both the public and the police officers who work tirelessly to keep our communities safe than acting immediately to restore trust."
By granting Schneiderman's request, the right to oversee the police killings would be taken from local prosecutors, who often work closely with the officers they are investigating.
"The question in these difficult cases is not whether a local prosecutor, including one with understandably close ties to his or her fellow local law enforcement officers, is capable of setting aside any personal biases in deciding whether, or how vigorously, to pursue the case," reads his letter, which notes that most of the unarmed civilians killed by cops were minorities, the New York Daily News reported.
"Rather, the question is whether there is public confidence that justice has been served, especially in cases where homicide or other serious charges against the accused officer are not pursued or are dismissed prior to a trial by jury."
The temporary order would not affect the recent grand jury decision not to indict officer Daniel Pantaleo for the July chokehold death of Garner, a 43-year-old father of six, during an arrest attempt on Staten Island, the Daily News reported.
It also wouldn't include the death of Akai Gurley, another unarmed black man fatally shot last month by a rookie NYPD cop in a darkened stairwell in Brooklyn. Instead, the order covers new cases so as not to jeopardize current federal or local investigations.
The attorney general's power to investigate the deaths would be lifted once the state legislature passes a more permanent measure.
