No jail time for Peter Liang in fatal shooting of Akai Gurley

Judge reduces ex-NYPD cop's manslaughter conviction to criminally negligent homicide.



BREAKING: Former NYPD police officer Peter Liang will receive no jail time for the fatal shooting of Akai Gurley. A judge has reduced his manslaughter conviction to criminally negligent homicide.

On November 20, 2014, Liang and his partner were patrolling the Louis H. Pink Houses in Brooklyn. At one point, Liang opened a door into an unlit stairwell and his gun went off. The bullet ricocheted off a wall and hit 28-year-old Akai Gurley, who was walking down the stairs, piercing his heart.

In February, a jury convicted Liang of second-degree manslaughter and official misconduct for failing to help Gurley after he had been shot. He could have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

But last month, the Brooklyn District Attorney's office announced that it would not seek prison time for Liang, advising the judge that "a prison sentence is not warranted," and instead recommending probation, home confinement and community service.

On Tuesday, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun sentenced Liang to five years probation and at least 800 hours community service for Gurley's death.

More here: No Jail Time for Ex-NYPD Officer Peter Liang After Manslaughter Conviction Reduced to Criminally Negligent Homicide

Prosecutor recommends no prison time for Peter Liang

Former NYPD officer was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Akai Gurley.



On Wednesday, the Brooklyn District Attorney's office announced that it would not seek prison time for former NYPD police officer Peter Liang when he is sentenced for the shooting death of Akai Gurley.

Prosecutor Won't Seek Prison for Peter Liang, Ex-Officer Convicted in Killing

Instead of jail time, Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson advised that Liang serve five years' probation and six months of home confinement with electronic monitoring, and perform 500 hours of community service.

The rookie officer and his partner were conducting a vertical patrol in a stairwell in the Louis H. Pink Houses in Brooklyn on November 20, 2014, when Liang's gun fired and a ricocheting bullet struck and killed 28-year-old Akai Gurley, who was visiting his girlfriend.

Last month, Liang was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter and official misconduct, and could be sentenced to as much as 15 years in prison.

What are we fighting for? White Privilege or Racial Justice in the death of Akai Gurley

Guest Post by OiYan Poon



Second-degree manslaughter. Manslaughter is legally defined as an "unintentional homicide from criminally negligent or reckless conduct. It can also refer to an unintentional killing through commission of a crime other than a felony."

As I witness fellow Chinese Americans, including family, protest former NYPD officer Peter Liang's manslaughter conviction in the death of Akai Gurley, I struggle to make sense of it all.

Family elders tell me to have compassion for Liang. "It was an accident. He was a rookie cop. Don't lump him together with bad cops. The bullet bounced off the wall and into Gurley's body," they say. They question why white officers like Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo, who killed unarmed African Americans like Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York City, get to walk free. "Liang is being used by a racist system as a scapegoat for bad policing," they say.

On the specifics of the case, I disagree with my elders. Liang unintentionally shot Akai Gurley, the father of a 2 year-old girl, but then did not try to save his life, and called his supervisor instead of an ambulance. His reckless behavior fits the definition of manslaughter.

While my elders believe Liang should not have been convicted in the death of Akai Gurley, I disagree that Liang should be granted the same unjust immunity that white officers have received in the killings of unarmed Black men. Liang is not the only police officer who has taken an innocent life, and he should not be the only one held accountable for doing so. Those who are angered by the double standard between how the state holds white and Chinese American officers accountable must fight in solidarity with African Americans and other people of color to transform a broken justice system.

I am surprised by my elders' sudden political engagement, and have so many questions.

NYPD officer Peter Liang convicted of manslaughter

Rookie cop found guilty in fatal stairwell shooting of Akai Gurley.



In Brooklyn, jurors have found NYPD officer Peter Liang guilty of manslaughter and official misconduct in the death of Akai Gurley, an unarmed man who was fatally shot in a public housing stairwell in 2014.

Officer Peter Liang Convicted in Fatal Shooting of Akai Gurley in Brooklyn

On November 20, 2014, Liang and his partner were patrolling the Louis H. Pink Houses in Brooklyn. At one point, Liang opened a door into an unlit stairwell and his gun went off. The bullet ricocheted off a wall and hit 28-year-old Akai Gurley, who was walking down the stairs, piercing his heart.

Who the hell stabbed David Henry Hwang in the neck?

Police release photo of suspect who attacked award-winning playwright in Brooklyn.



An update on the attack on David Henry Hwang... Police investigators have released surveillance photos of the suspect who slashed the award-winning playwright in the neck in apparent random street attack.

Police Investigate Attack on Award-Winning Playwright in Brooklyn

Hwang was walking on S. Oxford Avenue near Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn on Sunday night when the attacker walked up behind, stabbed him in the neck and ran off. Hwang felt pain in his neck and realized he was bleeding out. Fortunately, he managed to walk himself to the hospital for treatment.

NYPD released an image from surveillance footage of the alleged suspect:

Skateboarder tackled, pepper-sprayed in Columbus Circle

NYPD officer caught on camera violently arresting skateboarder.



Well, this seemed rather excessive. In New York, a man was violently arrested by an NYPD officer for skateboarding in Columbus Circle. A video of the arrest shows the officer using a chokehold and pepper-spraying the skateboarder to subdue him.

Video: Cop Uses Chokehold, Pepper Spray To Take Down Skateboarder In Columbus Circle

The video, recorded in Columbus Circle on Sunday afternoon, shows the officer forcing 22-year-old Yibin Mu off his skateboard with his forearm, throwing him to the ground face-first, straddling his neck and pinning him down from behind. He then draws his pepper spray and sprays Mu in the face.

Mu uploaded video of the arrest to YouTube:

Brooklyn street renamed to honor Detective Wenjian Liu

Liu and his partner Detective Rafael Ramos were fatally shot while sitting in their patrol car.



Over the weekend in New York City, a Brooklyn street was renamed to honor Wenjian Liu, the Chinese American police detective who was murdered in the line of duty last year.

Street named for Detective Wenjian Liu in Brooklyn

On Saturday, the corner of West 6th Street and Avenue T in Gravesend was named Detective Wenjian Liu Way at an emotional ceremony attended by Liu's family, dozens of police officers and city officials, including Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

Open Letter from AAPIs calls for #justiceforakaigurley

More than 50 AAPI groups release letter supporting justice for Akai Gurley and indictment of Officer Peter Liang



More than fifty Asian American and Pacific Islander groups from around the country have signed on to an open letter, organized by CAAAV, calling for justice in the fatal police shooting of Akai Gurley, an unarmed, Black, 28-year-old father who was killed by NYPD Officer Peter Liang last fall. The letter follows calls coming from some members of the Asian American community to drop charges against Liang.

Officer Liang was conducting a vertical patrol on November 20, 2014 in the Louis H. Pink Houses in East New York when he fired a shot that killed Gurley, who was visiting the home of his girlfriend.

The letter has been signed by AAPI community organizations and leaders representing diverse constituencies across all regions of the United States, calling for "#JusticeforAkaiGurley and for the systemic overhaul of policing practices and other institutional policies that chronically defund and destabilize Black communities."

The letter also condemns calls from members of the Asian American community for the charges against Officer Liang dropped. CAAAV Executive Director Cathy Dang calls these efforts "divisive, hurtful, and misguided."

"We should all be standing with Akai's family, who have lost a beloved brother, son, and father, and should be fighting to reform policing practices so that more families won't have to suffer the pain they are going through."

Here's the text of the letter:

Sign on for police accountability and #JusticeforAkaiGurley

CAAAV's national open letter calls on Asian American support for police shooting victim.



CAAAV, a grassroots community organization that fights for poor and working class Asian immigrant and refugee communities in New York City, has drafted a national open letter supporting justice for Akai Gurley and calling for Officer Peter Liang to be held accountable for Gurley's shooting death last November.

They're calling on APA organizations and individuals to stand with them and sign on to the letter to show that there is support in the Asian American community for #JusticeforAkaiGurley and for the broader national movement against police violence.

Here's the text of the open letter:

Cop "apologizes" for viral roadside tirade

NYPD detective Patrick Cherry was caught on camera losing his shit on an Uber driver.



The cop who was caught on video screaming and cursing at an Uber driver in an abusive, xenophobic roadside tirade has apologized for his actions -- after the video went viral -- though in this interview with NBC4 New York, he also comes up with a lot of weak excuses for his behavior. It's not much of an apology.

Cop in Viral Uber Rant Video Apologizes, Says Emotions Got the Better of Him

The video, recorded and uploaded to YouTube by passenger Sanjay Seth, shows NYPD detective Patrick Cherry cursing at the driver and screaming, "How long have you been in this country?" He has been subsequently stripped of his badge and gun and transferred out of the FBI's elite Joint Terrorism Task Force.

NYPD officer under investigation for abusive tirade

Det. Patrick Cherry was caught on camera screaming a xenophobic rant at an Uber driver.



A New York police detective is under official investigation after getting caught on camera going off on a rage-filled, profanity-laced, xenophobic tirade towards an Uber driver during a traffic stop.

Police Officer Screams At Uber Driver In Xenophobic Rant: 'How Long Have You Been In This Country?'

The New York City Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau says it's reviewing the video, which shows Patrick Cherry, a detective assigned to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, yelling at the driver (identified as "Humayun") and repeatedly mocking his accent and pronunciation of English.

Cherry can be heard shouting during the encounter, "I don't know where you're coming from, where you think you're appropriate in doing that; that's not the way it works. How long have you been in this country?"

The video of the incident, recorded by passenger Sanjay Seth, was uploaded to YouTube:

Bikers plead guilty in 2013 motorcycle mob attack

All but three of the eleven men charged have pleaded guilty in the attack on motorist Alexien Lien.



Remember the case of the New York motorist who was chased down the highway by a pack of bikers, pulled out of his car, and beaten on the street in front of his wife and toddler? This week, four of the assailants pleaded guilty for their role in the September 2013 road rage attack.

More plea deals in West Side Highway biker road rage case

For those unfamiliar with the case, here's the abridged version: A motorcyclist, riding with a pack, brake-checks a Range Rover and gets hit. Bikers surround the SUV. The driver, Alexian Lien -- who's with his wife and 2-year-old daughter -- takes off, plowing through several motorcycle riders and sparking a crazy pursuit on the West Side Highway. Driver gets chased down, pulled out of his car and beaten in front of his family.

NYPD officer charged with manslaughter in fatal shooting

Peter Liang pleads not guilty to felony charges in the death of Akai Gurley.



On Wednesday, a rookie New York City police officer pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and other felony charges in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man in the stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project last November.

Peter Liang, NYPD Officer Who Fatally Shot Akai Gurley, Charged With Manslaughter

27-year-old Peter Liang, the first New York City police officer indicted in more than two years in connection with a fatal on-duty encounter, was arraigned in the shooting of 28-year-old Akai Gurley.

The six-count indictment includes several felony charges, including second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, second-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment and two counts of official misconduct. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Two police officers murdered in Brooklyn

Gunman Ismaaiyl Brinsley fatally shot officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos before killing himself.



New York City is reeling from the murder of two police officers who were shot and killed over the weekend in Brooklyn. The suspect, who reportedly shared over social media that he wanted to kill police, traveled from Baltimore to New York, fatally shot the officers at point-blank range in their patrol car, then killed himself.

2 N.Y.P.D. Officers Killed in Brooklyn Ambush; Suspect Commits Suicide

Officers Wenjian Liu, 32, and Rafael Ramos, 40, were sitting in their patrol car in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Saturday afternoon when the gunman, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, walked up to the passenger-side window, and without warning or provocation, fired several shots at the officers, who did not draw their weapons. Brinsley then fled to a nearby subway station, where he killed himself as officers closed in.

Brinsley, who had a long rap sheet and a history of mental problems, used the same gun to shoot his former girlfriend, Shaneka Thompson, in Baltimore earlier that day, before boarding a bus to New York City. He had apparently seized on a plan, shared to the world via Instagram, to kill two police officers.

Man arrested in connection with fatal subway shove

Kevin Darden is also a suspect in a previous subway station assault.



In New York, police have apprehended a suspect sought in connection with the deadly subway shove that killed 61-year-old Wai Kuen Kwok, who was pushed to his death in front of an oncoming Bronx train.

New York Police Question Man in Two Subway Attacks, One Fatal

After an intensive manhunt, 34-year-old Kevin Darden was in police custody Tuesday night in connection with the deadly attack on Kwok, with charges pending. He is believed to be the suspect who appears in surveillance video leaving the 167th Street station after the killing.

Darden is also a suspect in a separate attack on November 6, in which a 51-year-old Asian man was pushed to the platform of the W. Fourth St. subway station in Manhattan. The man, who was treated for minor injuries, told police that he had been attacked by the same man who appeared in the surveillance video from Sunday.

Man killed after being shoved in front of subway train

Four people -- all of them Asian immigrants -- have been pushed in front of trains in less than two years.



In New York, police are searching for a suspect in connection with a deadly subway attack. On Sunday, a 61-year-old man was killed after being pushed off a Bronx subway platform in front of an oncoming train.

Routine Trip Turns Fatal as a Man Is Pushed in Front of a Subway Train

Wai Kuen Kwok was waiting with his wife at the 167th Street station in the Bronx, on their way to breakfast in Chinatown, when a stranger shoved him from behind onto the subway tracks as a D train pulled in. It was a seemingly random attack -- there were no words exchanged, no struggle, and it doesn't look like an attempted robbery. Kwok was struck and killed by the train as his wife, who was not injured, watched in horror.

The assailant was seen leaving the station just after the attack. According to police, he boarded a BX35 bus and then got off minutes later, entered a bodega and eventually left. Here's surveillance video of the suspect:

NYPD messed with the wrong human rights lawyer

Chaumtoli Huq was arrested for standing on the sidewalk while waiting for her kids to use the bathroom.



In New York, a human rights lawyer has filed a lawsuit against the NYPD after she was arrested for blocking the sidewalk while waiting for her husband and kids to use the bathroom at a Times Square restaurant.

Human Rights Lawyer Arrested For Standing On NYC Sidewalk Waiting For Kids To Use Bathroom

Chaumtoli Huq, a human rights lawyer and former general counsel for Public Advocate Letitia James, had just left a pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square with her husband and two young children when they stopped to use the bathroom at Ruby Tuesday. While she was waiting in front of the restaurant, officers approached her and demanded she clear the sidewalk. That's when some unreasonable shit went down.

NYPD accused of cover-up in fatal patrol car collision

Video footage suggests police are lying about the crash that killed pedestrian Ryo Oyamada



In case you weren't sufficiently angry at bad police... Last year in New York City, a Japanese student was struck and killed by a police patrol car while crossing the street. The victim's family and community members have pressed authorities for the truth about the accident, to no avail. But newly released security camera footage appears to show that the NYPD is lying about the crash and may have tried to cover up the incident.

Video Points To NYPD Cover-Up After Cop Fatally Ran Over Pedestrian

On February 21, 2013, 24-year-old Japanese student Ryo Omayada was killed by an NYPD cruiser as he was crossing the street in Queens. The police report claims that the patrol car, driven by Officer Darren Ilardi, was responding to a 911 call and had its emergency lights and sirens activated at the time of impact. However, witnesses say the cruiser's lights were not turned on until after the collision.

Newly released video from NYC Housing security cameras in the area appears to contradict the NYPD's account and strongly suggests a coverup in the response to Oyamada's death. Gothamist breaks down the footage, edited from two different cameras:

Biker mob attack victim files claim against New York City

Alexian Lien accuses the police department of failing to properly train officers



Remember that crazy motorcycle mob attack? The man who was chased down, dragged from his SUV, and beat down by a pack of bikers has filed a legal notice saying he intends to sue New York City over the incident.

Alexian Lien, Man Attacked By Motorcyclists, Files Legal Claim Against New York City

Alexian Lien, who was pursued and assaulted by a group of motorcyclists -- including undercover NYPD officers Wojciech Braszczok and Matthew Rodriguez -- on September 29, filed a formal "notice of claim" against the city last month. His wife and two-year-old daughter were both in the car when the mob smashed their windows, pulled Lien from the driver's seat and beat him in the street.

The claim accuses the police department of failing to properly train officers:

Things get bloody when cops arrest 84-year-old jaywalker

NYPD gets tough -- waaaaaay too tough -- on jaywalking



Disturbing news out of New York City... Over the weekend, an elderly man was hospitalized after being left bloody and violently arrested by police on the Upper West Side. His crime? Jaywalking, apparently.

Cops leave elderly man a bloody mess after he jaywalked

Early Sunday morning, a 26-year-old woman died after being hit by a car on the far west end of 96th Street -- the third pedestrian fatality to happen on the block in eight days. By that afternoon, NYPD officers were out in full force in the area, aggressively handing out tickets to jaywalkers in an effort to discourage unsafe street crossing. In the case 84-year-old jaywalker Kang Chun Wong, the cops got waaaay too aggressive.

According to the New York Post, the trouble began when cops spotted Wong crossing against the light at the intersection of 96th Street and Broadway, and attempted to give him a ticket. There appears to have been a language barrier, and when Wong started to walk away, the situation quickly devolved into what became a bloody mess: