Defense attorney Robert Brown says Peter Liang is “distraught” after a jury convicted him of manslaughter and official misconduct Thursday in the 2014 death of 28-year-old Akai Gurley.
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Liang, 28, was charged with second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment, criminally negligent homicide and one count of official misconduct, stemming from not administering CPR to Gurley.
The verdict was announced Thursday night; soon after, the NYPD announced that Liang has officially been fired from the police force.
Those attending the trial inside the Brooklyn Supreme Court gasped when the verdict was read.
“I was panicking”, he said.
Juror no. 8, who also asked that his name not be used, said the decision was tough, but that he hoped it would bring some peace to the Gurley family. Witness testimony said Liang “did nothing” to help the victim.
However, prosecutors said Liang, a newly recruited officer, handled his weapon recklessly and did little to help Gurley after he was shot.
Meanwhile, Liang’s supporters have said he was scapegoated for past injustices.
Gurley was walking in an unlit stairwell with his friend, Melissa Butler, on November 20, 2014 when Liang and his partner were patrolling the Pink Houses projects.
Liang, a Chinese-American rookie officer, is one of the few officers who has been held accountable for killing an unarmed Black civilian in the recent spate of fatal police brutality incidents in the United States.
According to Mapping Police Violence, U.S. police killed more than 100 unarmed Black people in 2015. Officers had been ordered not to conduct these patrols. They also listened again to the 911 call made by a neighbor shortly after Gurley was shot, and had Judge Danny Chun repeat the charges three times. Liang and his partner went to investigate the scene after Liang’s gun fired, where they discovered Gurley lying in a pool of blood along with his girlfriend.
He declined to comment as he left the courthouse after the verdict. He faces as much as 15 months in prison. Gurley’s girlfriend testified Liang did not offer aid while he was bleeding.
But Patrick Lynch, the president of the city’s largest police union, said in a statement that the verdict “will have a chilling effect on police officers across the city because it criminalizes a tragic accident”.
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Liang testified his gun went off accidentally and he did not know someone was below him in the stairwell. “This is about who we are in Brooklyn and what we stand for”. It’s been closely watched by advocates for police accountability. The defense insisted he fired by mistake and that Liang is wracked with remorse.
