NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A rookie NYPD officer fatally shot an innocent, unarmed black man in the darkened stairwell of a Brooklyn building Thursday night.
Peter Liang and his partner Shaun Landau were sent on special overtime detail to patrol the Pink Houses housing project because of a recent spate of violent activity.
Around 11:15 p.m., the two rookie officers exited the elevator on the eighth floor to make their way to the roof via the stairs, but upon entering the eighth floor stairwell and finding it pitch black, the lights out for weeks according to residents, Liang unholstered his weapon.
Moments later, 28-year-old Akai Gurley entered from the seventh floor with his girlfriend and a startled Liang discharged one round from his weapon without warning, striking Gurley in the chest from approximately 10 feet away, sending his body tumbling down two flights to the fifth floor landing. "The cop didn't present himself, he just shot him in the chest,"said Gurley's girlfriend of four years, Melissa Butler.
Related
- NYPD no longer arresting for misdemeanor marijuana, issuing summons instead
- Judge rules de Blasio can drop Bloomberg's appeal, stop-and-frisk reform coming to NYC
- New York tax payers have paid $428 million for NYPD settlements in past five years
- NYPD choking death victim's family suing NYC for $75 million
- NYPD video shows officer swiping more than $1,000 cash off man
Gurley was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital but pronounced dead on arrival.
"The deceased is a total innocent who had just happened to be in the hallway at the same time as the cops," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said at a press conference Friday.
"The deceased was not engaged in any activity other than trying to enter the stairwell," he added. "As the officers were entering the eighth-floor landing, the lights were not operable. Everything points to accidental discharge."
When asked to clarify the rules on when it's appropriate for an officer draw their service weapon to the ready, Bratton said, "We leave that decision to the officers based on what they are encountering or what they may encounter. But as in all cases, an officer would have to justify the reasoning for unholstering his firearm."
"On a very human level, we lost a life today. But it does appear to have been a very tragic accident," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
"There's going to be a full investigation, to say the least," the mayor added. "This is a tragic situation -- that's the bottom line. This is a tragedy, a life was lost and my heart goes out to the family."
"People are outraged, this is happening all over the country, people have no respect for black life," former New York City Councilman and newly elected assemblyman Charles Barron told the New York Times. "I want to hear the justification for this one. We're going to fight for justice with this one just like they are in Ferguson."
"It must stop," he added in comments to the New York Post. "There are problems all over the country with law enforcement and the people we pay to protect us in the black community. Our lives are just as valuable as anyone else's. This young man should still be alive."
