NEW YORK (AP) – A rookie police officer who shot an unarmed man dead in a darkened public housing stairwell was convicted Thursday of manslaughter in a case closely watched by advocates for police accountability. He said that because officers can routinely find people with guns during such patrols, “it’s the reason that our members, like police officer Peter Liang, have weapons drawn while performing this job”. But really it was Liang’s behavior and lack of action after the shooting that caused outrage.
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An attorney for the officer convicted of fatally shooting a man in a dark public housing stairwell said he will appeal the verdict. And the jury’s decision is a rare instance in which a police officer was convicted of killing someone in the line of duty.
Liang shot Gurley while performing a vertical patrol of the Pink Houses in East New York in November of 2014. The jury, which was largely white, reached its verdict after more than two days of deliberations. The bullet had traveled downward, hit the cinderblock wall on the side of the stairs and then ricocheted and hit Mr. Gurley a floor below and completely out of sight. Liang, a rookie cop, was holding a flashlight in his right hand and a Glock 9 mm in the other hand.
“I believe that it was a mistake he made, putting his finger on the trigger”, said juror No. 9, who asked that his name not be used.
The manslaughter charge is a felony which carries up to 15 years in prison.
They also emphasized 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. Instead, he argued with his partner about who should report it out of fear he would be fired. He remains free on bail. The officer in that case was never indicted, and Garner said she is happy for the Gurley family and for the future.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement Thursday night that he respects the jury’s decision finding Peter Liang guilty of manslaughter and official misconduct. The verdict, says Patrick Lynch, “will have a chilling effect on police officers across the city because it criminalizes a tragic accident”.
The president of the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, New York’s largest police union, also expressed concern about the implications of the case.
The verdict comes amid a national outcry over the crisis of discriminatory policing and incidents of police brutality and a severe lack of trust between many communities and their local police forces.
Liang testified his gun went off accidentally and he did not know someone was below him in the stairwell.
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Liang and his partner, Shaun Landau, who was not criminally charged but testified in the trial, were fired after the verdict.
