The family of an unarmed black man shot and killed by a police officer called for a conviction at the trial, which had started just the other day.
On Wednesday, rookie New York City police officer Peter Liang was charged with second-degree manslaughter and five other offenses for the fatal shooting of Akai Gurley inside a dark stairwell of a housing project last November.
Officer Liang was patrolling with his partner in the Brooklyn housing project at about 11:15 p.m. on Nov. 20 when his gun discharged a single bullet, killing 28-year old Gurley, who was in the stairwell a flight below with a female companion.
Liang’s indictment by a grand jury stands in stark contrast to other cases of police officers who have killed unarmed black men. Last year, grand juries in New York and Missouri found no criminal wrongdoing in the two incidents that caught national attention, sparking waves of angry protests.
During a brief appearance at the Supreme Court in Brooklyn, Liang was charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, second-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment and two counts of official misconduct. Dressed in a dark gray suit, he pleaded not guilty and Judge Danny Chun released him on his own recognizance. Several people in the crowded public gallery shouted: “Indict! Convict!”
Kenneth Thompson, the district attorney who oversaw the secret grand jury proceedings that led to Liang’s indictment, said he would show that there was no threat in the stairwell that night and so no justification for Liang drawing a weapon.
After the hearing, Gurley’s partner Kimberly Ballinger said, “This is the first step in justice. Now all we need is a conviction, which I have faith that we will get.”
Gurley’s aunt Hertencia Petersen made an emotional plea for justice.
“You tell me, where is the justice for Akai Gurley? My nephew’s life was sacrificial. Now changes will occur. You can bet on that. Changes will occur, not only in the NYPD department, but all police departments all over. Akai’s death is not in vain,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Stephen Worth, Liang’s lawyer, emphasized the dangers of the housing project. To which Petersen said, “If you’re afraid, then you should not be in that position. If you’re afraid, you should not have been in that stair hall. Murderer! Murderer! Murderer! That’s what it is.”
Liang, who had been on the force for 16 months at the time of the shooting, is the first New York City police officer indicted for a deadly encounter with a civilian in more than two years, the New York Times reported.
(Reuters)
