Video: N.Y. Police Open Fire after Man Lunges with Large Knife

By Aaron Besecker

Source The Buffalo News, N.Y.

Daniel Kachinoski didn't want police inside his Town of Niagara home on Saturday night.

Officers came to the Chester Avenue residence after the 40-year-old's mother called 9-1-1 to report a domestic disturbance.

"Get the [expletive] out," Kachinoski yelled at Officers Alex Wagner and Angela Micale. "Now."

About seven minutes later, Kachinoski was fatally shot by police after he lunged at them with an object above his head, police-worn body camera footage released on Monday showed.

Police say that object was a knife with a 10-inch blade that was recovered at the scene.

The state Attorney General's Office is investigating the shooting, but a preliminary investigation by the Niagara County Sheriff's Office concluded the officer who used deadly force was justified.

The officers had tried verbal commands and less-lethal means of trying to get Kachinoski to comply, and "quite frankly had run out of space in the room," Sheriff Michael Filicetti said.

"I could tell you that based on what I have reviewed thus far, my initial assessment of this incident is that the officers had to protect themselves and others in the residence," Filicetti said during a news conference Monday.

Two Town of Niagara police officers arrived at Kachinoski's home at 8:52 p.m. Saturday. They tried deploying their Tasers three times, but were unsuccessful at subduing Kachinoski, Filicetti and Town of Niagara Police Chief Craig Guiliani said.

Police released four videos of the incident, from body cams worn by police and an in-home surveillance camera. One video released by police, 2 minutes and 32 seconds in length, condensed the incident down from what transpired over the course of about eight minutes.

While at some points Kachinoski appears calm, at other points he is swearing and screaming at officers.

Family members told The Buffalo News on Sunday that Kachinoski struggled with mental illness and addiction.

The video shows Wagner repeatedly told Kachinoski to turn around so he could be placed in handcuffs. Kachinoski refused.

That's when the situation appears to quickly escalate. A child begins to scream.

Kachinoski refuses to let the officer handcuff him.

Wagner drew his Taser.

"Put your hands behind your back," Kachinoski yelled back in Wagner's face.

Kachinoski screams at police to leave, then picks up a chair.

As they stand on opposite sides of a pool table, Wagner draws his gun and tells Kachinoski to put the chair down.

Kachinoski comes around the pool table as Wagner yells for him to get on the ground.

Kachinoski picks up something from a counter.

"Is that what I got to do to you both?" Kachinoski says just before lunging toward the officers.

That's when Wagner fired two shots at Kachinoski, hitting him once in the neck and once in the chest, police officials said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Kachinoski got within a foot or two of the two officers.

"He was essentially right on top of the officers, and they had no alternative at that point," Filicetti said.

Wagner and Micale have been placed on five-day administrative leave, Guiliani said. The department will reassess their statuses after five days, the chief said.

"They're doing OK," Guiliani said of the officers.

Wagner, 29, has four years of law enforcement experience and was hired by the Town of Niagara Police Department in 2020. Micale, 24, was hired by the department in October and has a year of experience, Guiliani said.

The chief said he believed the two officers followed proper procedures, including attempting to deescalate the situation.

"They gave him every opportunity to comply," Guiliani said.

Kachinoski's mother called 9-1-1 at 8:44 p.m. Saturday, according to a timeline of events released by police.

Kachinoski met Wagner at a side door to the home and "appeared to be aggravated," Guiliani said. He let police inside.

Wagner interviewed Kachinoski's mother in the kitchen, while Micale spoke with Kachinoski in a back room, police said.

Once Wagner entered the back room where Kachinoski was, that's when Kachinoski told police to leave. It's around this time that the body cam footage released to the public begins.

The footage shows a child in the room. Family members told The News the boy was Kachinoski's son.

"This is my house," Kachinoski said at one point before he punched the top of what appears to be a bar. "Mine."

About a minute later, Kachinoski, standing in front of a screen door, tells Wagner, "Bye."

"Nope, not leaving," Wagner said.

"Oh, what a surprise," Kachinoski said.

A few seconds later, he said to Wagner, "Do you want me to make you leave my home?" before walking to the opposite corner of the room.

The knife Kachinoski picked up was 18.5 inches long, police said, and after the shooting, it was found in the kitchen beneath a stool.

A state law that went into effect in the spring of 2021 gave the state Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation jurisdiction to investigate cases in which a police officer "may have caused the death of a person, by an act or omission," the Attorney General's Office said.

Prior to that, the agency had jurisdiction — granted by executive order — to investigate the deaths of unarmed civilians.

Authorities released the footage in an effort to be transparent, Filicetti said.

"I think it's important for the public to know what took place there, but it's also important for the officers, that their story gets out there and it's important for the family to know what took place," he said.

Town of Niagara police had visited that home, which Kachinoski shared with his mother and the child, on prior occasions, said Guiliani, who declined to elaborate. Town police also have had encounters with Kachinoski at other addresses in the town, he said.

The child who was in the home at the time of the shooting is in the care of other family members.

"This is a tragic situation for all involved, and that includes the family and the officers at the scene," Filicetti said.

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