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Advocates press Albany County DA not to prosecute man shot by police as he charged with a knife

Activists, along with community and government leaders, have launched a countywide initiative they hope will keep an Albany city resident from going to prison.

Center For Law & Justice executive director Alice Green says the goal of the Albany County-wide “Just Mercy for Jordan” campaign is aimed at convincing District Attorney David Soares to turn the other cheek.

"We're hard pressed to understand why the district attorney wants to send Jordan Young to prison. He isn't even acknowledging the mental health issue that he has," said Green.

On January 24, 2022, officers responding to a 9-1-1 call spotted Young walking his dog along lower New Scotland Avenue. They claim he was holding a knife to the dog's neck, then charged at them. Police body cam footage shows Young ignoring calls to drop the knife before the shooting.

"Not only are we collecting petitions, we now have to over 2,000 and running towards 3,000," Green said. "And I think that says a lot. We're also contacting other organizations, some of them are national, some of them are state to join in this campaign."

The 33-year old Young has been in and out of the hospital over the last year, having had 23 surgeries and scheduled for another. Albany County Assistant Public Defender Rebekah Sokol represents Young. She says he suffers from PTSD as a result of his police encounter.

"It's not something that Jordan is going to get over quickly and certainly hasn't to this point," Sokol said. "I mean, the last time I spoke with him, he was basically in tears. I mean, he could barely talk to me, he was so despondent, and it was at a point where, OK, we're going in for another surgery. At some point, the court system is scheduling a trial."

Sokol adds Young's medical issues may result in that trial being rescheduled. She's met with the DA's office multiple times and says "they're not interested in offering him anything but prison time."

"We have trouble getting him to the courthouse when he has to get there. You know, he has a lot of mobility issues," said Sokol. "And he, at one point, I don't know what he weighs currently, but at one point, he was down to 80 something pounds. And he's tall. I mean, that it's, you know, he was skin and bones and hunched over and, you know, has a lot of trouble. He was walking with a walker at one point. I mean, what is this? What is the purpose of sending him to prison?”

County Legislator Merton Simpson of the 2nd District brands Young's case "a question of differential application of the law."

“What we're asking for is a humane response. We're talking about a tragedy, something that's more torturous than death itself, somebody who has a quality of life that's significantly diminished," Merton said. "And then we're going to put them into almost certain death situation, in a position where people who are healthy have difficulty surviving, and you're talking about somebody who's near expiring, going into an environment that we won't have the support systems to survive. So in the name of common justice, we are asking that the humane response be given, that the insult to the already inappropriate injury not be leveled on this individual.”

Soares’ office declined the comment.

Green says Albany has a troubled past involving police shooting young Black men.

"Starting with Jesse Davis, who had mental health issues. The police shot him, they murdered him, no one ever was held accountable," said Green. "We know about Dontay Ivy, again, another young man, that he wasn't shocked, but the police stopped him for no reason. And he had some health issues, both mental and physical health issues. We're still dealing with Ellazar Williams, who was shot in the back by police, who said that he was running towards them. So there's a long history here. And it's got to stop somewhere. And we're saying it has to stop now. We cannot put Jordan in prison.”

In February 2022, the Albany Community Police Review Board voted unanimously to investigate the Young shooting. Board member Paul Collins-Hackett says he can't comment on an open investigation. Speaking from his purview as community leadership team steering committee member for the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, Collins-Hackett says he sees the Young shooting as a failure of that program.

"Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion was installed to be able to address these mental health issues in a caring, compassionate way," said Collins-Hackett. "That did not happen in this case, if the LEAD program was more effective, if it changed, there could have been things in place that made this so it didn't have to happen in Albany. So these things did not have to happen. And I hope that we get the structures in place to make sure it doesn't happen moving forward."

Green expects to have more than 3,000 signatures on the petition when it gets to Soares.

"The rally will take place on April 19 at 2:30. Right in front of the district attorney's office. It's the Judicial Center, 6 Lodge, and we hope to have a number of people there who will be speaking, and there'll be a lot of activity around it," Green said.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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