Officer-Involved Shooting Report Released By AG

HYDE PARK, NY — An investigation by New York’s attorney general has cleared an officer who shot a Hyde Park woman in 2022.

New York Attorney General Letitia James’s Office of Special Investigation released its report Tuesday on the death of Jamie Feith in Hyde Park in 2022.

The investigation included a review of body cam footage, interviews with witnesses and evidence from the scene.

The report concluded that a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that the officer who shot Feith was justified.

According to the attorney general’s office, on the afternoon of April 29, 2022, two Hyde Park Police Department officers and a New York State Police trooper responded to a 911 call placed by Feith reporting a domestic matter at her apartment located at 50 North Cross Road in Hyde Park.

When officers arrived, they separated Feith and an adult man who was also at the residence. The trooper and a Hyde Park officer remained in the apartment with Feith, while the second Hyde Park officer accompanied the man outside.

Authorities said Feith refused to cooperate when asked to provide identification and began acting erratically. She then took out a folding knife from her back pocket and pointed it at the Hyde Park officer.

The officer wrestled Feith to the ground and tried to take the knife away, but she resisted and got back, knife still in hand.

Feith continued to ignore repeated commands to drop the knife and continued to advance toward them with the knife in her hand.

The officers tried to subdue Feith with a stun gun, which was not effective.

During the struggle, one of the officers fired his service weapon, shooting Feith.

Emergency medical personnel arrived and performed lifesaving measures, which were not successful.

Feith was pronounced dead, and officers recovered a knife at the scene.

According to James’s office, under New York’s justification law, a person may use deadly physical force to defend against the imminent use of deadly physical force by another person.

When the defense of justification is raised at trial, the prosecution must disprove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

In this case, the report concluded that the officers attempted to de-escalate the situation by repeatedly asking Feith to drop her weapon. She ignored the officers’ requests, and continue to approach with a knife raised and pointed at the officers.

Under these circumstances, based on the law and the evidence, a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer who fired was justified, and OSI determined that criminal charges could not be pursued against the officer.