A jury has found Peter Liang guilty of second-degree manslaughter and official misconduct in the shooting death of an unarmed man in a Brooklyn housing project.
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A rookie NY police officer convicted of manslaughter is now facing as much as 15 years in prison.
Kevin C. Downs/for New York Daily News Liang and Landau were on patrol in the Pink Houses in Brooklyn when Liang fired his gun, with the bullet striking Gurley (pictured with his child).
Those attending the trial inside the Brooklyn Supreme Court gasped when the verdict was read.
“If that’s not a time to pull out your gun, I don’t know when is”, said defense lawyer Robert Brown. Liang, who is married, joined the police academy after a stint as a TSA agent, and one of the assignments he requested upon graduation was the transit arm of the NYPD.
But the DA said that the verdict was in “no way a conviction” of the city police, the New York Law Journal reported. The jury has now spoken, and we respect their decision.
An attorney for an officer convicted of fatally shooting a man in a dark public housing stairwell says he will appeal the verdict.
But prosecutors argued Liang fired toward the sound deliberately and that he must have known only another person could have caused the noise that surprised him.
William J. Bratton, the police commissioner, has described Gurley as “totally innocent” and called the shooting an accident, while New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) called Gurley’s death “a tragedy”.
Liang is the first NYPD officer that has been put on trial for killing a civilian since 2008, and the first NYPD officer to be found guilty of killing a civilian in decades.
The shooting came at a tense moment in relations between the police and the city’s black population – four months earlier, a Staten Island man, Eric Garner, died after he was placed in a chokehold by a police officer who had been trying to help arrest Garner for selling loose cigarettes. “Fear and panic can not excuse recklessness, especially on the part of a highly trained police officer”, Alexis added.
Gurley’s death was one of several high-profile incidents to draw increased attention in an atmosphere of heightened scrutiny nationwide over how police officers use deadly force. In addition, the worst year was 2012, when 21 people were killed, three by off-duty police officers.
The bullet ricocheted off the wall and hit Gurley, 28, who was standing on a lower floor.
The family said they “want justice beyond the courtroom” including policy changes at the NYPD. In both those cases, grand juries declined to indict officers.
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“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.
