“While we welcome the indictment, the reality will be a conviction,” said Omowale Clay, member of December 12th Movement and African Brotherhood for Self-Determination. “From Ramarley to Trayvon to Michael to Eric, the pattern has not been broken—police murder, no trial; police trial, no conviction.”
The reactions to the indictment of police officer Peter Liang in the Nov. 20, 2014, shooting death of Akai Gurley has been swift and pointed.
The indictment of an NYPD cop made national news.
Relations between the city’s police and the Black community have been on edge after months of mass protests last summer and fall in the wake of the police killings of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner on Staten Island and Gurley in East New York.
Shortly after Gurley’s death, Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson had said, “I promised to conduct a full and fair investigation to get to the bottom of what happened that night.”
His team of investigators and assistant district attorneys presented the case to the a grand jury, who returned a six-count indictment charging Liang: one count of second-degree manslaughter, one count of criminally negligent homicide, one count of second-degree assault, one count of reckless endangerment and two counts of official misconduct.
“I can now report that the district attorney’s office has completed a thorough investigation into this matter,” said Thompson.
In a courtroom packed with fellow cops, Liang pled not guilty to the six charges.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun oversaw Liang’s arraignment and released him without bail. He faces up to 15 years in prison on the top count.
“Police indictments are good, convictions are better,” said Brooklyn Assemblyman Charles Barron. “This is a step in the right direction, but we have had indictments before with Sean Bell and Amadou Diallo, and the police got away with their deaths. We must remain vigilant. We don’t want there to be a bench trial. We don’t want the case to be moved. Our communities demand transparency and justice.”
That fateful night, Liang, a rookie, had been paired with another rookie while on a vertical patrol at the Louis Pink Houses in East New York. Liang was patrolling with his weapon drawn. Without provocation, Liang fired into a darkened stairwell, hitting Gurley in the chest as he and friend Melissa Butler entered the stairwell a floor below the officers.
It is alleged that as Gurley lay dying, rather than call for an ambulance, Liang called his union representative. The NYPD immediately called the killing an “accident.”
“We welcome the indictment of police officer Peter Liang for the senseless, avoidable and unprovoked murder of Akai Gurley,” said Roger Wareham, Butler’s attorney. “However, we caution our community that an indictment is only the first step in this process. We’ve had indictments of police criminals before. They were almost always followed by inept or half-hearted prosecutions that led to acquittals. We believe that this will not be the case here, that the Brooklyn district attorney is committed to bringing this case to a felony conviction.”
Wareham told the Amsterdam News, “The NYPD does not conduct vertical patrols with guns drawn in an area where no trouble was reported, in white communities. It is only when the police know that they will go to jail for their criminal acts that the NYPD’s racist and wanton disregard for the humanity of Black people will begin to change.”
A forgotten victim in this case is Gurley’s friend, in whose arms he collapsed. “I want the community to recognize the strength and courage of Melissa Butler, a young woman who could have been shot herself as she walked beside Akai Gurley in the dark staircase,” said Wareham. “She then had to endure the further trauma of applying CPR to her friend as he lay dying in the stairwell because P.O. Liang and his partner did not immediately call for an ambulance or come to provide aid themselves.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio asked for patience. “It’s important for people to see each case as individual and watch the entire play-out of all the pieces,” he said.
Scott Rynecki, attorney for Kimberly Ballinger, the mother of Gurley’s 2-year-old daughter, said the indictment has left her in “a little shock and she was overcome with emotion. You have to remember that they have a child together, a 2-year-old daughter, that she still has to explain all of this to.”
Activist minister the Rev. Herbert Daughtry told the Amsterdam News, “Now, perhaps, truth will get a hearing. In addition, I applaud DA Ken Thompson for bringing this indictment, and also for his work in freeing wrongly convicted persons. I believe the indictment would not have happened had we had the usual DA and no serious pressure in the streets and elsewhere. I hope that this will cause rogue cops to cease their violent, murderous behavior. But let us keep the pressure on and continue using all of our options, including the electoral process. Let us not forget, DA Thompson is in office via the vote.”
Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane Williams told the Amsterdam News that he is “happy that this first step has occurred trying to hold someone accountable for the death of an unarmed man.” Williams reiterated the sentiment of many Black activists and elected officials. “This is just an indictment,” he said. “We still have to have a trial. We don’t want to lose focus on issues like the overuse of the police in Black and Brown communities—and Broken Windows, overuse of summonses and force.”
While praising “the Brooklyn DA and Brooklyn grand jury for their diligence here,” Williams added, “It is a shame of how far we have to go when we are celebrating just an indictment. This is what is supposed to happen when someone dies unarmed.”
Tamika D. Mallory, president of Mallory Consulting and a member of Justice League NYC, noted, “DA Thompson’s ability to secure this ruling is proof that when evidence is presented fairly and impartially, the justice system can work. We hope the courts take this case very seriously and bring justice and solace to the Gurley family in the form of a conviction.”
Brooklyn Council Member Robert Cornegy said, “I join the people of Brooklyn in breathing a sigh of relief that in this case, the legal system has not added insult to the Gurley family’s injury.”
National Action Network’s Northeast Regional Director Kirsten John Foy declared that NAN is “pleased” that “Liang will be charged with the death of Akai Gurley.” She said, “NAN has supported Kimberly Ballinger and the child of Akai Gurley since the unarmed young Black man was killed, and we are pleased that the process will now allow for a fair and impartial hearing. Unlike the case in Staten Island, this case shows the difference in a prosecutor who will respect the grand jury’s role to decide probable cause, rather than attempt to influence it. We will monitor this to make sure there is a fair process.”
“Our people, especially our young, should absolutely stay in the streets on this issue,” said Zayid Muhammad of the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition and Malcolm X Commemoration Committee. “Indicting police for killing our kids is a rare, exceptional event.” But he concluded, “We must continue to shut them down until the very killing of our kids by the police is as an exceptional event for us as it is for white folks kids.”
Cornegy predicted that “some healing can come from the fair operation of the criminal justice system in this case.” Praising the DA, he added, “The people of Brooklyn elected District Attorney Ken Thompson to enforce the criminal law zealously and impartially. Here again, with the indictment of officer Liang, our DA has evidenced his commitment to carry out that charge.”
