Reports indicate that one of the officers involved in the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo is being promoted to sergeant.
Officer Kenneth Boss passed the civil service exam to get the promotion.
Diallo was killed by Boss and three other officers in 1999 when they fired 44 shots at Diallo in the Bronx. The 24-year-old Guinean immigrant was mistaken for a rape suspect by law enforcement and reached for his wallet. The officers thought he was reaching for a gun and fired.
Boss and the other officers were cleared of criminal charges. Boss fatally shot another unarmed, Black man prior to killing Diallo.
“Kenneth Boss is a killer cop who gunned down an innocent Black man, Patrick Bailey in a narrow hallway in a home in East New York, Brooklyn in 1997,” said Assemblyman Charles Barron. “Boss watched Patrick bleed to death in the hallway, as it took him over 40 minutes to transport patrick to a hospital 3 minutes away. Boss claimed Patrick had a gun. Every eyewitness said Patrick was unarmed! We told then D.A. Charles Hynes that this killer cop should be taken off the streets before he kills again. D.A. Hynes did nothing; he supported Boss. Sure enough Boss kills again! This time, in 1999, he was one of the killer cops who gunned down Amadou Diallo in a narrow hallway in the Bronx. He should not be promoted; he should be demoted to prison where he belongs. His promotion is a disgrace and a blatant disregard for Black life by police Commissioner Bratton. Bratton must go!”
Rev. Al Sharpton is being joined by Diallo’s mother, Kaditou, on Saturday at the National Action Network’s weekly rally. Sharpton will also discuss the need for reform to New York’s civil service laws which allowed Boss to be promoted.