By Hank Russell
An off-duty member of the New York Police Department was cleared of wrongdoing by the Attorney General’s office in an incident involving the death of a pedestrian. The AG’s Office of Special Investigation (OSI) concluded that prosecutors would not have enough evidence to charge him with criminally negligent homicide.
According to the report, in the early morning hours of December 9, 2024, an off-duty NYPD officer was driving in his personal vehicle eastbound on Merrick Road, which has a speed limit of 30 miles per hour and intersects with Oceanside Road at a crosswalk with a traffic light. As the officer approached the intersection with Oceanside Road, he had a green light and proceeded through the intersection at a speed of 66 to 67 miles per hour.
Adrian Wilburne was walking northbound in the crosswalk and was struck by the off-duty officer’s vehicle. Wilburne was pronounced dead at the scene.
In New York, proving criminally negligent homicide requires proving beyond a reasonable doubt that a person caused a death when they failed to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that death would occur; that the failure to perceive the risk was a gross deviation from a reasonable person’s standard of care; and that the person engaged in blameworthy conduct, according to the OSI.
“In this case, though the officer was driving more than twice the posted speed limit, there was no evidence that the officer’s conduct was ‘morally blameworthy’ as required by case law to constitute criminally negligent homicide. Evidence indicates that the officer was not impaired by drugs or alcohol or distracted by his cell phone at the time of the crash,” the OSI stated.
Although the collision caused Wilburne’s death, OSI concluded a prosecutor would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that the officer’s conduct was “morally blameworthy,” constituting criminally negligent homicide. Therefore, OSI concluded that there was insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.
Long Island Life & Politics reached out to the NYPD for comment and is waiting to hear back.