A rookie New York City police officer who fatally shot an innocent man in a dark public housing stairwell was convicted Thursday of second-degree manslaughter and official misconduct, CBS New York reported.
Advertisement
Liang testified in the killing of Akai Gurley, 28, and could face 15 years of jail time after a jury consisting of seven men and five women found him guilty of manslaughter on Thursday.
New York City police officer Peter Liang has been found guilty of manslaughter in the death of Akai Gurley.
Defense lawyer Robert Brown said he would appeal the court’s ruling and warned that the verdict would put officers in danger.
The decision by Thompson to prosecute police brutality cases is in line with his past experience as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of NY. Liang, who is Chinese-American, has strong support in the Chinese community, and his mother and several members of his family have attended much of the trial. Instead, Gurley’s frantic girlfriend had to attempt CPR following instructions from a 911 operator, hence, the official misconduct conviction. Following the fatal execution-style shooting of two officers in December 2014, Lynch all but declared war against the Black citizens of NY, calling for a “wartime” police force in reaction to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. At one point, Liang opened a door into an unlighted stairwell and his gun went off. The bullet glanced off a wall and hit Akai Gurley, 28, who was walking down the stairs with his girlfriend, piercing his heart.
“Nobody deserved to die like Akai did, and no verdict in this world can heal our heartache or pain in losing Akai”, the statement said.
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.
“This officer was indicted not because of what is happening elsewhere in the country but because of what happened in that stairwell”, Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson told the Associated Press.
Jurors asked that the testimony of Liang and other witnesses be read back.
He said he initially looked with his flashlight, saw no one and didn’t immediately report the shot, instead quarreling with his partner about who would call their sergeant.
Defense lawyer Rae Koshetz, meanwhile, painted a picture of a young officer who turned into a “wreck” too traumatized to communicate after realizing he had accidentally shot someone. Liang and his partner were out of contact for more than six and a half minutes after Liang fired his gun.
“I was panicking. I was in shock, in disbelief that someone was actually hit”, he said.
Advertisement
He also said the defendant did not call his superior officer or an ambulance and should not have had his finger on the trigger. The gunman later killed himself.
