The guilty verdict sends a powerful message to law enforcement after several cases of police shootings of unarmed men in the past year went unprosecuted.
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“I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone”, Gurley’s mother, Sylvia Palmer, said after the officer’s conviction.
(Gregory P. Mango /New York Post via AP, Pool). The jury has now spoken, and we respect its decision. “What we saw today is that people from all walks of life came together here in Brooklyn to affirm that Akai Gurley’s life did matter”.
The defendant said he had been holding his gun safely, with his finger positioned on the side and not on the trigger, when a sound surprised him and opened fire into the stairwell.
The defense said the shooting was an accident, not a crime. He has vowed to appeal.
Liang says the shooting was accidental. Like Gurley, Brown and Garner were black, unarmed and killed by officers.
Meanwhile, supporters of Liang are afraid the officer has been made a scapegoat for previous police killings of black men.
“What happened here is a tragedy”, argued Rae Koshetz, one of Liang’s attorneys.
Liang faces up to 15 years in prison when he’s sentenced in April. He also was convicted of official misconduct. Police Commissioner claimed that Mr Gurley “just happened” to be in the dark stairwell when the officer fired his gun.
When Liang and his partner went back into the stairwell to investigate, they discovered Gurley and his girlfriend on a stair landing below, Koshetz said. They also emphasised the dangers of so-called “vertical patrols”, a point that was underscored when two officers were shot this month when conducting a similar patrol in a Bronx public housing building. He had no comment after the verdict.
Liang was dismissed from the New York Police Department right after the decision came out, according to department spokesman Peter Donald.
Liang was convicted of manslaughter and official misconduct in connection with the death of 28-year-old Akai Gurley. Before the verdict, Liang’s attorney requested to dismiss the charges, and a Brooklyn State Supreme Court judge has yet to make a ruling.
Instead of offering assistance to Gurley as he lay dying, Liang panicked and delayed calling in his “mistake” over the radio, instead calling his commanding officer’s cell phone.
The 28-year-old Liang said he fired by accident after a noise startled him.
A New York City police officer who shot an unarmed man in a pitch-dark public housing stairway has been convicted of manslaughter. However, activists said it was about time that police are held accountable for using excessive force.
During the trial, prosecutor Marc Fliedner said Liang “fired for no reason” then “wasted precious time arguing with his partner”, anxious that he would be sacked.
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“Oh my god, someone’s hit”, a tearful Liang recalled saying upon finding a bleeding Gurley lying on a landing, as his girlfriend frantically tried to revive him.
