Attorney General James’ Office of Special Investigation Releases Report on Deaths of Dhal Apet and Lueth Mo

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation (OSI) today released its report on the deaths of Dhal Apet and Lueth Mo, who died on September 6, 2023 following an encounter with a member of the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) in DeWitt, Onondaga County. After a thorough investigation, which included review of nearby home security camera footage and 911 calls, interviews with civilian witnesses, ballistic and trace evidence analysis, video enhancement, consultation with experts in both shooting reconstruction and use of force, and comprehensive legal analysis, OSI concluded that a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that the officer’s actions were justified under New York law.

On the morning of September 6, an OCSO deputy responded to a 911 call in which the caller said he was seeing what he considered to be “suspicious activity” by people moving objects between two parked cars in a parking lot in a residential neighborhood in DeWitt. The responding deputy had been investigating a nearby burglary earlier that morning, and the 911 call appeared to relate to that burglary.

When the deputy arrived at the parking lot, one of the cars immediately drove away. The deputy drove his police car nose to nose into the second car to prevent it from leaving, and parked. Mr. Mo was in the front passenger seat of car, and Mr. Apet was in the back seat. As the deputy got out of his police car, the driver of the car that Mr. Apet and Mr. Mo were in backed up and then drove forward, toward the deputy, apparently attempting to flee. The deputy fired his gun three times into the moving car.

The car drove away and was later found on Mooney Avenue in Syracuse, with Mr. Apet and Mr. Mo inside. Mr. Apet was pronounced dead at the scene, and Mr. Mo was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead later that morning.

Under New York’s justification law, a police officer may use deadly physical force when the officer reasonably believes it to be necessary to defend against the use of deadly physical force by another. Justification is a defense to criminal charges, and the prosecutor must disprove justification beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

In this case, a car whose occupants were suspected of involvement in an earlier burglary was driving toward the deputy, who was standing in or near its path. Based on enhanced video, civilian statements, expert consultation on the path of the car and the position of the deputy, and expert consultation on the use of force, OSI concluded that a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the deputy reasonably perceived the car to be about to collide with him, nor disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the deputy reasonably believed that firing into the car was a way to prevent himself from being harmed. Therefore, OSI determined that criminal charges would not be pursued in this matter.

OSI recommends that OCSO – and all police agencies – should equip officers with body-worn cameras and police vehicles with dashboard cameras. OCSO and all police agencies should also implement policies and training to ensure that police interactions such as these are captured on these cameras to aid in possible investigations such as this one.