Source: NYPD officer indicted in stairwell death of unarmed man

[Jefferson23]

Updated 4:56 PM ET, Tue February 10, 2015

New York (CNN)A New York City police officer has been indicted in the death of Akai Gurley, an unarmed man shot and killed in a Brooklyn housing project in November, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation has told CNN.

The charges against Officer Peter Liang were not revealed Tuesday.

Gurley, 28, was "a total innocent who just happened" to run into Liang in a "pitch black" stairwell at the Louis H. Pink Houses in Brooklyn, New York Police Commissioner William Bratton told reporters the day after the killing.

At the time, the NYPD said the fatal shot was an "accidental discharge."

Liang, with less than 18 months on the job and on probationary status, had been placed on modified assignment and stripped of his gun and badge pending an investigation.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/10/us/new-york-gurley-shooting-indictment/index.html

[Blue_Tires]

1. GOOD...

Was wondering when we'd see an update on that case

[braddy]

2. Good.

[samsingh]

3. very good

[Lurks Often]

4. Probably going to be charged with some variant of manslaughter

Certainly the police officer was in the wrong trying to open a door with a gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other.

[Jefferson23]

6. It will be interesting to see how this develops and ends. n/t

[Lurks Often]

9. My guess is a plea bargain

Depends on if the prosecutor is going to hammer the cop for reasons un-related to this specific case, such as his future political career, the mayor vs the NYPD thing and the climate in the city after the Garner tragedy. If those three things are in the prosecutor's mind, expect it to go trial, if the prosecutor offers a plea deal with either no, or more likely a short prison sentence, expect a plea bargain.

I'm not sure either side really wants to go trial. It would be a disaster for the city if the officer is found not guilty or guilty of something less then whatever variant of manslaughter I expect him to indicted for, but I don't think the defense really wants to risk the possibility of a jury that wants to make an example of this officer.

[Jefferson23]

13. It won't likely be a politically free zone...I hear ya. n/t

[uppityperson]

5. I like how they keep saying "his gun discharged".

Good.

[Jefferson23]

12. Yea, as if no one was involved...it just happened. n/t

[iandhr]

7. Manslaughter is the indictment.

I am going to take an educated guess that the judge might later allow the jury to consider lesser charges as well such as negligent homicide or reckless endangerment.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. I almost feel sorry for this cop.

I said almost. All my sympathy goes with the victims.

I think they have these guys so wired tight I think, often times, they are scared to death. Streets flooded with guns doesn't help.

I think racism, conscious or unconscious, plays a huge factor.

I see cases like that case were the cop shot the kid for reaching back in his car for a license and the cop starts blood curdling screams "let me see your hands!!!!!" And I see a scared cop.

That's not to be confused with cops like Darren Wilson who unnecessarily escalated a situation, picked a fight and then murdered someone 50 plus feet away.

[malaise]

10. This is great news

Rec

[johnson_z]

11. The Brits may be right...

Posted this in a similar thread.

Do we really need every police officer armed? Sometimes, it seems to me, that this is sort of "putting out the fire with gasoline", or maybe just storing the matches too close to the gasoline?

[KamaAina]

14. A cop? Indicted? What on Earth could the grand jury have possibly been thinking?