Below is our official list of demands we delivered to Utica City Hall at the Common Council meeting on August 7th.

Justice for Nyah Mway: Community Demand Letter to Mayor Galime and Members of the Utica Common Council

August 7, 2024

Mayor Michael Galime
City Hall
1 Kennedy Plaza
Utica, NY 13502

Common Council
City Hall
1 Kennedy Plaza
Utica, NY 13502

Dear Mayor Galime and Members of the Common Council,

We, your undersigned constituents, are writing to you with heavy hearts and a steadfast commitment to accountability and justice following the tragic and wrongful beating and death of 13 year old Nyah Mway at the hands of Utica police officers Patrick Husnay, Bryce Patterson, and Andrew Citriniti. This devastating event has not only caused immeasurable pain to Nyah's family but also shaken the entire Utica community, refugee and American alike, highlighting the urgent need for significant reforms in your approach to community engagement, public safety, and policing. 

Since Nyah's brutal and unnecessary killing on June 28, 2024, your administration has held one closed community meeting and only shared two postings from the Utica Police Department regarding the incident on social media. Not once did Councilmember Burmaster from Nyah’s district reach out to extend condolences to the family or services to support the burial or grieving of our community. Not once did you, Mayor Galime, a father himself, extend sincere condolences to Nyah’s parents who won’t be able to celebrate their son’s 14th birthday this week. Not once have you engaged the civilian review board or tax-supported street outreach teams. Not once have you facilitated a meaningful and trauma-informed conversation for community members and officers. Not once has anyone from your administration explained why a child lost his right to due process, or his pursuit of life.

Everyone in this city deserves human decency and transparency, especially when things go horribly wrong. Everyone in this city deserves safety in all of our communities. Rather than that human decency, transparency, and safety, we have been given a convoluted bureaucratic process with a lack of accountability and character-shaming the dead. In earnest and sincere hopes to restore public trust and a sense of safety for all of our community members we respectfully request the following actions to be taken immediately and comprehensively:

Urgently: 

• Issue a public statement to express condolences to the family and community.

• Cover the funeral and burial costs for Nyah Mway and allocate funds to support the mental health expenses of his immediate family at least. 

• Provide a timeline and regular update for the investigation that includes weekly updates on the process, stages, timeline, and findings in English, Burmese, and Karen, both in written and verbal formats. Clarify the steps that have been taken to engage an independent investigator.

Legislative Reform and Funding Action:

• Reform and empower the Civilian Review Board to ensure it includes a representative sample of community stakeholders, no elected officials or law enforcement, and grants it investigatory and disciplinary powers. 

• Redirect state and federal funding currently received by the Utica Police Department to reduce gun violence towards establishing a robust community violence interruption program that operates alongside NYS SNUG Outreach (SNUG).

• Invest in community organizations and institutions such as the Midtown Utica Community Center, Mohawk Valley Latino Association, Mohawk Valley Junior Frontiers,  Rebuilding the Village, and Utica Royalties that serve public safety by providing recreation and resources to young people.

UPD Reform:

• Pass legislation requiring the UPD to record all stops, including locations, demographics of the persons stopped, and the reasons for the stops without increasing additional funding (similar to the NYC stop-and-frisk data collection model).

• Pass legislation restricting the UPD’s use of firearm force during a foot chase or street patrol. 

• Develop and articulate a clear and feasible plan to change the demographics of the police department.

• Provide a quarterly update to the police records and personnel files, which are missing key details and settlements without the allocation of more funds. 

• End the partnership between the Utica School District and the UPD by removing school resource officers from our schools. Our schools should be places of learning and safety, not of criminalization and police surveillance.

• Terminate Officer Husnay from the Utica Police Department, irrespective of the investigation’s finding, as his unnecessary use of force positions him as a threat to our community. 

The wrongful death of Nyah Mway demands not only our sorrow but also our resolute action to prevent such tragedies in the future. By taking these steps, we can begin to restore trust, ensure justice, and create a safer and more equitable environment for all residents of Utica.

Thank you for your attention to these critical issues. We look forward to your prompt and positive response before the next Common Council Meeting. 

Sincerely,

Justice for Nyah Mway 

justicefornyahmway@gmail.com 

 justicefornyah.com