Attorney General investigates deadly LaFayette police shooting after car attack

New York Attorney General Letitia James’s Office of Special Investigation opened a formal review into the death of Irene McIntyre, whose encounter with state troopers in LaFayette ended in a police shooting and left another person dead in the same violent sequence.

Troopers were called to a residential area of LaFayette at about 1:46 a.m. on April 12 after a 911 report. Investigators say McIntyre was driving a car and using it to strike and run over other people when officers arrived. During the confrontation, one trooper fired a service weapon and struck McIntyre.

McIntyre was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The attorney general’s office said one person struck by McIntyre was pronounced dead at the scene, while others were treated for injuries that were not life-threatening.

The Office of Special Investigation said it reviews every incident in which a police officer or peace officer may have caused a death by an act or omission, regardless of whether the person who died was armed or unarmed and whether that person was in custody. If the office determines an officer may have caused the death, it moves into a full investigation.

For Onondaga County, the case brings scrutiny to a fast-moving and deadly episode that unfolded before dawn in a neighborhood where police, paramedics and investigators all converged after the 911 call. The inquiry is expected to examine the troopers’ response, the sequence of the vehicle strikes and the use of deadly force that ended McIntyre’s life.

James’s office described the facts as preliminary and subject to change, a standard part of the review process. For LaFayette and the rest of the county, the opening of the investigation is the first formal step toward determining exactly how the encounter unfolded and whether the trooper’s actions complied with state law and policy.