LOCKPORT, N.Y. — New York State Attorney General Letitia James' office released a report on its investigation into the death of Troy Hodge on Friday afternoon.
The investigation found insufficient evidence that a crime had been committed by any officers.
Hodge died following an incident with Lockport Police outside his mother's home back in June of 2019.
The family of Troy Hodge, 39, called the police because they said he was acting strange. They previously told 2 On Your Side's Claudine Ewing following the incident that Hodge thought people were going to harm his family.
His mother, Fatima Hodge, said at the time, "They slammed him on the ground face down, and I'm out there screaming and hollering saying, 'Please, y'all, don't hurt my son, don't you all kill my son,' " Hodge said. "He tried to get up, and they body-slammed him down again. And then they had that gun thing. Taser. It broke on my child, they did it so many times."
The attorney general's report states that Hodge told the officers that "people were after him and he needed to get his shotgun," then moved quickly toward the door of his mother’s home.
When the officer tried to stop him from allegedly grabbing the gun, the officer saw Hodge had a knife in his hand, according to the report.
The report indicates the situation escalated and at one point Hodge held one of the officer's in a headlock, "attempting to move the knife toward her head."
Body camera footage showed the altercation, in which Hodge was tased and restrained. According to the state attorney general's report, at one point an officer's foot appeared to be in the area of his neck and shoulder for more than a minute.
In an interview, the officer said she, "consciously did not place her foot on Mr. Hodge’s neck, but rather on his shoulder, and that at no time did she apply any meaningful pressure."
The medical examiner identified the cause of death as: “sudden death associated with acute cocaine intoxication and prolonged physical altercation.”
According to the report, the medical examiner took note of injuries but said those injuries did not contribute to Hodge’s death.
The report states, "All of the crimes for which any of the officers might arguably be culpable36 – reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and reckless endangerment – contain elements that render them highly unlikely to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, based upon our review of the admissible evidence."
However, it noted the response to this incident is still cause for "serious concern."
2 On Your Side spoke to Buffalo-based attorney John Elmore, who is not connected to this case but has more than 30 years of legal experience.
"The mother and the family of Troy Hodge, they should be upset because the police should've handled this in a much better manner. They did not show empathy. They showed that they were poorly trained," Elmore said.
Still, Elmore understood the attorney general's findings, adding that he believes it would've been nearly impossible to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, given the autopsy and other factors.
"The fact that there is not a criminal prosecution does not absolve these police officers of civil liability, and it does not absolve these police officers of moral responsibility," Elmore said.
The report, which is more than 70 pages, also includes a series of recommendations, such as more training, and calling for the Lockport Police Department to discontinue its 911 call center, and allowing Niagara County to take over the dispatching responsibility in the area.
The report indicates having two 911 systems at work in the City of Lockport hindered the emergency medical response in this incident.
Elmore told 2 On Your Side, "This death should have never happened, and there's a need for more police reform, more police training, more transparency. Thank goodness that we have an attorney general in this state who believes in transparency, and has released the autopsy report and its findings, along with the video camera recordings from the officers that responded so the public can actually see what happened."
Elmore said this is critical at a time when all across the country, there are calls for more transparency from law enforcement agencies.
He added with changes within departments, incidents like this one could be prevented.
Read the full attorney general's report here.