The brother of a man who was killed during a confrontation with police last May says two deputies do not deserve the award they received earlier this week.
On Wednesday, Onondaga County Sheriff's Deputies Michael Hoosock and Adam Quku were named "Deputies of the Year" at a Sheriff's Association ceremony in Albany. They were credited for their actions on May 5th in which they and a Syracuse Police Officer shot and killed Benjamin Campione in a parking lot at the Regional Transportation Center.
But Campione's brother, Victor Campione says the deputies should not have received the awards. "That they would accept an award for the tragic way my brother was killed with all the questions behind it with no consideration or compassion for my family and myself and what we've been going through... it's like reliving it all over again." Campione told CNY Central's Jim Kenyon.
Police reports say Benjamin Campione, a mentally ill man high on drugs, was armed with a pellet gun that resembled a .357 magnum revolver which he pointed at the officers. A Grand Jury investigated the incident and found the officers' actions were justified.
Victor Campione, who is a retired police and corrections officer, says the officers may have been justified in firing at his brother, but he also feels they went too far. He points out that a total of 23 shots were fired during the incident which reportedly lasted only seconds. 4 of the shots struck Benjamin, once in the side, twice in the back and once in the buttocks. Campione says the other 19 rounds were fired into a parking lot "My brother, his back was to the deputies and he was on the ground. Who became the threat to the community? 19 rounds were all over that area, hitting parked cars where people could have been in them. And they're giving an award to these two deputies?" he complained.
Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh nominated Hoosock and Quku for "Deputies of the Year." "They responded as they were trained." Walsh explained, "They were threatened on a call of a man with a gun who turned the gun on them and they responded just as they were trained to respond." Walsh says the deputies "checked quickly to make sure no one was in the line of fire." He disagrees with Campione's claim that the deputies actions constituted a threat to public safety. "Well I'd totally disagree with that. When we have mentally ill individuals roaming our streets, armed with weapons off medication...this is a problem."
Campione says his family had begun to put the incident behind them, but now that two deputies have received awards, he intends to continue to investigate the circumstances of his brother's death and go public with whatever he finds.
