There are numerous stories on the Akai Gurley shooting.
Press, Diaries, comments.
I don't have the files, and the reports, but, i doubt there will be any
charges pressed.
Here's how the Internet buzz goes.
"Future city employee, Akai Gurley and Girlfriend walk into stairwell at their apartment complex, startling a PO Alex Liang who shoots at him, mortally wounding him, and then he and his partner leave the scene to be treated at the hospital for tinnitus, while Gurleys GF frantically seeks help for her dying friend"
Hell of a picture,
But lets try and go over the law.
A police officer never has the right to kill someone, that's Murder (Homicide), however,
a Police Officer will be excused for Homicide, if they are in grave bodily harm of themselves or others or if a reasonable police officer would believe that they are.
However, if they have a mistake of fact, then they may not have a defense, but,
to charge a crime you need to form the requisite elements for homicide.
Now, if you read the stories, you never see, the typical elements of an excused
police shooting. ( Fight with suspect, belt buckle, sudden grab for a pocket, the statement
was that Gurley did nothing wrong) so there was NO Defense of Self or Others or
Reasonable Officer would so believe
but
I did a bit of googling
http://heavy.com/....
http://heavy.com/...
The lights in the stairwell have been out for eight days, reports DNA Info. In a report into the shooting by the New York Times, it reads:
Even when the lights are working, the stairwell at the housing projects is so dark at night that anyone standing in it appears as a silhouette, according to residents.
The stairwells are fitted with fluorescent lights, they said, but the burned out bulbs are seldom replaced, and the few that work are dim.
According to NYPD Commissioner Bratton, Officer Liang has been place modified duty while the incident is under investigation. The rookie cop graduated from the academy in January 2013, he lives in Brooklyn. Officer Liang was still on probationary status. His partner, Shaun Landau, was also new to the force. Both officers were also taken to the hospital after the shooting to be treated for tinnitus.
http://www.nytimes.com/....
http://www.nytimes.com/...
The shooting occurred in the Louis H. Pink Houses in the East New York neighborhood. The housing project had been the scene of a recent spate of crimes — there have been two robberies and four assaults in the development in the past month, two homicides in the past year, and a shooting in a nearby lobby last Saturday, Mr. Bratton said.
Additional officers, many new to the Police Department, were assigned to patrol the buildings, including the two officers in the stairwell on Thursday night, who were working an overtime tour.
Having just inspected the roof, the officers prepared to conduct what is known as a vertical patrol, an inspection of a building’s staircases, which tend to be a magnet for criminal activity or quality-of-life nuisances.
Both officers took out their flashlights, and one, Peter Liang, 27, a probationary officer with less than 18 months on the job, drew his sidearm, a 9-millimeter semiautomatic.
Officer Liang is left-handed, and he tried to turn the knob of the door that opens to the stairwell with that hand while also holding the gun, according to a high-ranking police official who was familiar with the investigation and who emphasized that the account could change.
It appears that in turning the knob and pushing the door open, Officer Liang rotated the barrel of the gun down and accidentally fired, the official said. He and the other officer both jumped back into the hallway, and Officer Liang shouted something to the effect that he had accidentally fired his weapon, the official said.
assuming it's not BS, I can see what happened.
They used a piss poor procedure to open a door, the gun discharges, they are deafened, it's dark, they don't hear
anything on the 7th floor. Gurley is hit on the 7th floor landing, stumbles back into the hallway on 7.
the two rookies, stagger down the stairs, never hearing
the shouting of Gurley's GF.
bad luck meets stupidity.
It may be criminal recklessness, but that's about all you will get.
lets look at Homicide.
of this way, homicide can be broken down to its common elements like this:
1. Unlawful.
2. Killing.
3. Of another.
4. With some level of intent:
a. Intentionally, or with premeditation (first degree murder).
b. Knowingly, or without premeditation (second degree murder).
c. Recklessly (voluntary manslaughter).
d. Negligently (involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide).
If you read the stories, there was no intent, there was piss poor procedure.
So you aren't going to get Murder 1 or Murder 2.
You are grasping for Recklessly or Negligent.
Okay,
Is it reckless to try and open a door with the hand you are holding a pistol in?
That's a tough one, You need 12 people on a jury, to agree that it's reckless.
Now, then you come to Negligent.
Is it Negligent to open a door with the hand you have a pistol in?
It would be for you or me, but, now we have to apply the "Reasonable Officer" test.
Would a reasonable officer ever do this? If the answer is yes, then likely he walks.
I'd say this reflects piss poor training and management, you don't send two rookies
out on a building search, without a veteran, and into such a bad neighborhood.
I get why officers carry a big maglite because it makes a good baton too,
but, they either need tactical lights or a body light, so they can keep a hand free.
but that is a good argument for the police officers walking.