Attorney general seeks probe of Rensselaer County DA

Troy -- The state Attorney General's Office has asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the authority to investigate Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel E. Abelove for his handling of the fatal shooting of a DWI suspect by a Troy police officer last April.

A law enforcement source briefed on the matter, but not authorized to comment publicly, confirmed the extraordinary request was made recently but said the source did not know whether Cuomo's office approved it. The Troy police investigation of the shooting was incomplete when Abelove presented the case to a grand jury that cleared the officer less than a week after the shooting.

At the time, the Attorney General's Office was reviewing whether to investigate the shooting under an executive order Cuomo signed last year giving Schneiderman the authority to intervene in cases in which unarmed citizens are killed during police encounters. Schneiderman's office said Abelove did not notify them that he was putting the case before a grand jury.

The attorney general's ongoing investigation of the shooting death of 37-year-old Edson Thevenin is examining whether the incident unfolded as police officials described — with the officer firing eight shots through the windshield of Thevenin's Honda sedan after the vehicle allegedly pinned the officer's legs against his police cruiser.

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