NEWBURGH – Civil rights attorney Michael Sussman is planning to file a wrongful death lawsuit again the City if Newburgh in connection with the fatal shooting by police officers of Tyrell Fincher on March 27 when Fincher pulled a gun on them.
Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said evidence showed Fincher pulled his trigger, but the weapon didn’t fire.
Sussman said Hoovler’s office should not have handled the case in the first place.
“The case should have been sent to the New Yok State Attorney General’s Office. It was really the substance of the statute which removed interested district attorneys who want to protect local police agencies a responsibility for cases of this importance,” Sussman said. “It’s a shame that we have an attorney general who doesn’t insist on that and, of course, we have a district attorney who likes to marvel in his exoneration of police officers.”
Hoovler said the attorney general declined jurisdiction in this case.
“Clearly, we acted at the behest of the attorney general in this matter and as far as his other comments, the facts speak for themselves. The relevant video that shows the incident from one officer’s perspective was released, and the street cam video that showed the entire incident was released,” Hoovler said.
An Orange County grand jury last week cleared the officers involved of any wrongdoing in the incident.
Sussman also said Newburgh lost a “fine” police chief when then-Chief Doug Solomon resigned from the force after the shooting. The attorney believes Solomon left because “he didn’t want to be complicit” with what transpired.
