Cambridge Police release findings of independent review of 2023 fatal officer-involved shooting

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Cambridge Police Department released the findings of their independent review of the January 2023 fatal officer-involved shooting of Sayed Faisal, a 20-year-old who was experiencing an apparent mental health crisis.

The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) independent review of the January 4, 2023, fatal shooting found the Cambridge Police Department’s policies to be ‘strong,’ but stated ‘there were opportunities to strengthen them with some modifications.’

In the report, PERF highlighted the department’s emphasis on de-escalation is proven by the low number of its calls that result in any force being used whatsoever.

“CPD has a long history as a forward-thinking, trauma-informed, state-of-the-art police department and its members are already trained far more than those of other police departments around the state of Massachusetts and the country,” the report read.

PERF stated that fatal, officer-involved incidents happen so rarely in a city the size of Cambridge, which is a testament to the training and protocols already in place at the Police Department.

In a report released by the Middlesex District Attorney’s office back in October, a judge wrote that Officer Liam McMahon’s decision to shoot Sayed Arif Faisal was justified because it was reasonable for the officer to assume he was in danger of being injured or killed.

Police were called to a Cambridgeport neighborhood on January 4 when Faisal was seen injuring himself with a long ‘machete type’ knife. Faisal initially fled when the police arrived, leading them on a long foot chase, officials said.

“Faisal never responded to the officer’s commands to stop and drop the knife, and Faisal refused to engage with any of the officers’ attempts to communicate with him. Faisal was not subdued or seemingly affected by the less-lethal shot, and instead turned and walked directly toward Officer McMahon while holding the knife out towards him. At the moment that Officer McMahon fired his weapon, a reasonable law enforcement officer in the same position would reasonably believe that he, along with his fellow officers and others, were in imminent danger of being seriously injured or killed,” the judge wrote in his decision.

In addition, the department is working to implement a co-response pilot program that would place a clinician in a police cruiser with an officer to respond to mental health calls, according to Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine Elow.

Elow and her department continue to mourn the loss of Faisal. “Even if we did everything right, we never want to lose a life. That is never the outcome that we want when we respond to a call for a person who is in crisis,” said Elow.

FULL REPORT HERE:

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