Dwayne Pritchett died in handcuffs in New York City late last month, but why he was taken into custody and what happened after that are in dispute. A witness in the Bronx apartment contradicted the police claim that the 48-year-old attempted to take an officer’s weapon on Jan. 28, the New York Daily News reported.

While cases like this one are typically handled by a local district attorney, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced on Wednesday that his office was taking over the case.

A 2015 executive order from the governor granted the attorney general jurisdiction over police-involved deaths of unarmed people, such as the Eric Garner case.

It has been a rare case for law enforcement officers to face justice after killing unarmed suspects because of the usual claims that cops make such as “I️ feared for my life” or they tell a version that requires the public to take their word. The officers who are indicted rarely get convicted, even though there has been video evidence that show they were in the wrong and contradicts their testimony.

One of the latest cases that begs for an independent investigator involved the fatal shooting of a Black teenager in Los Angeles on Sunday. Deputies claimed 16-year-old Anthony Jacob Weber had a gun even though they couldn’t find the weapon, claiming someone removed it from the scene.

These type of claims are why a lot of people do not trust the police.

“This investigation by the attorney general will be totally independent,” Rubenstein said. “So the public will have more confidence in the results.”

We truly hope this makes a difference in the outcome of these cases. How are you feeling about this issue #cocoabees?