Officials: State AG Letitia James probing fatal shooting by Nassau cops

State prosecutors have taken over the investigation into the fatal shooting of a suspected carjacker in Queens by Nassau police officers, officials said Thursday.

In a brief statement, a spokesman of New York State Attorney General Letitia James said her office started a probe under the authority of a 2015 directive by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo that mandates state review when police use deadly force.

The shooting death of Matthew Felix by Nassau cops Tuesday afternoon followed the Queens man's carjacking of a Mercedes-Benz in Garden City Park earlier in the day, police said. Nassau police officers tracked the Mercedes to Felix's home in Cambria Heights. Officers attempted to arrest Felix, 19, after he left his home and got into a car that was not the stolen vehicle, police said.

A subsequent pursuit of Felix, 19, ended on a Queens street crowded with shoppers and rush-hour commuters when officers shot him dead near 217th Street and Linden Boulevard. Law enforcement sources said Felix appeared to be unarmed.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz started an initial inquiry with the help of the NYPD but confirmed Thursday through a spokeswoman that the state had taken over the investigation. A Nassau police spokeswoman said the department had no immediate comment on the attorney general's investigation.

In taking over the case, James invoked Cuomo's order allowing the attorney general to step in when police officers kill unarmed civilians, whether in custody or not. Cuomo has said he created the order to ensure investigations into police killings of civilians are “conducted without conflict or bias, or the perception of conflict or bias.”

Under Cuomo’s order, James can investigate and prosecute in cases where it appears there is “a significant question as to whether the civilian was armed and dangerous at the time of his or her death.” But since James' inquiry is in its early stages, more time is needed to determine whether the shooting was justified under the state laws of self-defense.

A high-ranking law enforcement official said the state investigation will have to look at Nassau police radio transmissions, which are encrypted, and the fact that Nassau cops don't use body cameras.

Felix, who lived at 221st Street, had a lengthy criminal record dating to 2016 that included charges of unlawfully fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle and resisting arrest, officials said.

At a Wednesday news conference, Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder described the incident as a “police-involved shooting that resulted in a loss of life.” He declined to say if Felix was armed at the time or provide details of the circumstances that led an officer, or officers, to open fire, citing active investigations.

The shooting came hours after a Nassau resident on Tuesday attempted to sell the Mercedes on social media and met Felix in a parking lot on Jericho Turnpike in Garden City Park, Ryder said. Felix displayed a black firearm and pointed it “to the victim’s head and tells him to get out of the car,” the police commissioner said. Felix then fled the scene in the Mercedes.

A planned rally Friday at the scene of the shooting by the Long Island chapter of the Harlem-based National Action Network has been canceled and will be rescheduled, said E. Reginald Pope, president of the Long Island chapter.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.