Albany police chief defends officers in police-involved shooting

WNYT Staff

Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins says he can’t say much about the body cam video of an officer-involved shooting earlier this week, because it’s an ongoing investigation. However, he maintains after watching the video of the encounter, his officers did nothing wrong.

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Chief Hawkins reiterated that his officers did the right thing. He says they followed their training. He says the officer was under attack and only had four seconds to respond.

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In the body cam video, you can see the officers tell Jordan Young to drop a knife multiple times. You can even see the officer back up as Young was charging at the officer.

Hawkins says his officers retreated and were trying to de-escalate the situation. However, he says the officer was under a deadly force attack, so he believes the officer took the necessary steps to protect himself.

Meanwhile, Alice Green with the Center for Law and Justice says she has been in contact with Young’s family.

NewsChannel 13 spoke to her before she got a chance to view the video. However, she does not believe police should have stopped Young in the first place.

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Find out why, by watching the video of Jonathan Hunter’s story.

DIGITAL EXTRA: Full press conference with Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins

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