Shooting of Akai Gurley

Akai Kareem Gurley (c. 1986 – November 20, 2014) was born in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, the Caribbean, and moved to New York when he was a child.[10] He was not a resident of the Louis H. Pink Houses, where he was killed, but lived in nearby Brownsville with his domestic partner, her daughter and their two-year-old daughter. According to police, Gurley had 24 prior arrests on his record,[11][12] mostly on drug possession charges, and often executed by officers with histories of civil rights violations.[13]

Peter Liang (born c. 1987), a Hong Kong American, had less than 18 months of experience with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) at the time of the shooting. Liang was born in Hong Kong, immigrated to the United States as a child and lived in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, with his parents and grandmother; he also has a younger brother in college.[14] Liang had aspired to become a police officer since he was a child.[15]

The Louis H. Pink Houses are considered to be among the worst housing developments in New York.[16] Patrick Lynch, head of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York, characterizes them as "among the most dangerous projects in the city" with dimly lit stairwells presenting a particular danger.[17] Police Commissioner Bill Bratton reported that there had been a recent "spike in violence" in the neighborhood over the preceding months with two homicides, two robberies, and four assaults.[17][18]

Two rookie police officers were assigned to the Louis H. Pink Houses where they were conducting routine vertical patrols,[19][20] in which officers patrol a public housing complex from the roof to the ground floor, stopping on each floor to see if there is any crime in progress.[18][21] The New York Daily News initiated rumors that their commander had instructed officers in the area not to carry out vertical patrols and instead to conduct exterior policing in the East New York housing project, and that the officers were texting their union representative as Gurley lay dying. The rumors were later debunked by the District Attorney's office, but the Daily News did not issue a retraction or apology.[22] The NYPD's policy on whether an officer should keep a weapon holstered on such patrols is purposely vague and the decision as to when to take out a firearm is left to the discretion of the officers, according to Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.[23] The department also insists that officers place their fingers on the trigger only upon encountering "extreme and particularized danger."[24] During trial testimony, officers testified that they were taught during academy training to have their guns out at times for fear of possible "ambush" or when they felt "unsafe", and that they were specifically trained to take out their firearm as they approached a roof landing because it was "dangerous". One officer testified that cops are taught to beware of a possible "ambush" on vertical patrols specifically. She also testified that you were taught that when you approach a roof landing, you should have your firearm out, finger alongside the trigger.[25] At the time the gun was discharged, the light in the stairwell on the 8th floor was broken and it was pitch black.

The fatal shooting of Akai Gurley is notably[31][32] similar to the shooting death of Timothy Stansbury Jr. that occurred in January 2004, when Officer Richard S. Neri killed Timothy Stansbury Jr., 19, on a roof at the Louis Armstrong Houses in Brooklyn at about 1 a.m. when Officer Neri, with his gun drawn, approached a rooftop door to check the stairway inside. A grand jury declined to indict Officer Neri on charges of criminally negligent homicide, declaring the event an accident, after he gave testimony that he had unintentionally fired; he was startled, he said, when Mr. Stansbury pushed open a rooftop door in a place where drug dealing was rampant.[33][34][35]

Protestors supporting Peter Liang on February 20, 2016, at Boston Common

More than 3,000 Chinese-Americans showed up at New York City Hall in March 2015 to support Liang. Thousands walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan's Chinatown in April, feeling that Liang was being used as a scapegoat, and demanded the charges to be dropped, as other, white police officers were previously not charged.[45][46]

Following his conviction, Asian-Americans denounced the verdict at various gatherings across the country, many expressing dismay and frustration. There were differing opinions among Liang's supporters, with some still feeling that he should not have been prosecuted at all, and some feeling that he should have been prosecuted but that a manslaughter verdict was too harsh as it carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail, but all agreeing that the overall system needs a change.[47][48][49] State Assemblyman Ron Kim stated, "I do not believe true justice prevailed. Our system failed Gurley and it failed Liang. It pitted the unjust death of an innocent young black man against the unjust scapegoating of a young Asian police officer who was frightened, poorly trained, and who committed a terrible accident."[50]

Nearly 15,000 people protested on behalf of Liang in New York on February 20, 2016,[51] and protests were also held in other cities across the United States on the same day. Liang's supporters held signs with condolences for Gurley, as well as MLK signs (referencing civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr.) and signs asking for justice for Liang and Kizzy Adonis (black police officer who was prosecuted for the death of Eric Garner while the white police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, was not charged). Many of Liang's supporters demanded that all killers should be prosecuted and that there should be no such thing as selective prosecution, scapegoating, or racism.[52][47] Joseph Lin, a real estate agent and activist, had helped to organize the protests due to feeling that Asian-Americans had been too "passive" or "indifferent" with no political voice, saying that "If he's a black officer, I guarantee you Al Sharpton will come out. If he's Hispanic, all the congressmen will come out. But no, he's a Chinese, so no one is coming out."[49]

New York City councilwoman Margaret Chin stated that she was satisfied with the grand jury indicting Liang but she also asked for leniency in Liang's sentencing.[53][54][55]

Congresswoman Grace Meng also sent out her voice; however, she did not say anything meaningful that defined her standing. Senator Mark Treyger and William Colton had always spoke on the behalf of Chinese.[56]

Gurley's death was one of several police killings of African Americans protested by the Black Lives Matter movement.[57] On December 27, 2014, 200 people marched in Brooklyn to protest the fatal shooting of Akai Gurley on the same day as the funeral for slain NYPD Officer Rafael Ramos, who was killed in the 2014 killings of NYPD officers, despite calls from the mayor to postpone demonstrations.[58][59][60]

On February 10, 2015, Officer Peter Liang was indicted by a grand jury for the shooting death of Akai Gurley. He was charged with second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and two counts of official misconduct. Liang had a court date on February 11, and turned himself in that day.[61][62] He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released without having to post bond, and suspended from his job without pay. His trial started on January 25, 2016. Liang was convicted of manslaughter and official misconduct on February 11, 2016.[63] Liang now faced anywhere from no jail to a maximum of 15 years of prison when sentenced in April.[27] His lawyers planned to submit an appeal to Judge Danny Chun while Liang remained free without bail.[50] Delores Jones-Brown, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, speculated to The Atlantic that Liang would have avoided conviction had he rendered aid to Gurley, while jurors later reported that the effort required for them to pull the trigger on a police-issued pistol led them to disbelieve that Liang's testimony was completely true.[64]

Shaun Landau, the other officer involved, was not criminally implicated in Gurley's death.[60] However, he was fired from the NYPD one day after his partner was convicted. Officer Landau, like Liang, was also within his two-year probationary period, and his firing after the trial was within his contract. Landau testified at the trial of his former partner under immunity from prosecution. Landau described his partner as "in shock" and that "[Liang] couldn't believe he just shot someone." He said that neither of them tried to revive Mr. Gurley, with both of them saying that they did not feel qualified to perform CPR. According to Landau's words, that the instructor of the police academy that he and Liang graduated from, gave them the free pass to the course by helping them to cheat on the exams.[65] Both radioed for an ambulance, as Gurley's girlfriend unsuccessfully performed CPR.[66][67]

On April 19, 2016, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun sentenced Peter Liang to five years of probation and 800 hours community service. Chun believes incarceration is "unnecessary", but "he will be much more productive if he spends more time in community service."[9][68]

The Assistant District Attorney,[69] Joseph Alexis, accused the killing as intentional—Liang "chose" to place the finger on the trigger. However, one of Liang's defense attorneys, Rae Koshetz, argued that what had happened was a tragedy, not a crime, because Liang did not choose to point his gun at the victim, though the bullet bounced off the wall and coincidentally hit Akai Gurley, causing his death.

Liang's attorneys, Robert Brown and Rae Koshetz, argued that Liang was in a "state of shock" after his gun went off, and did not realize that he hit anyone.[70]

The defendants also argued that Liang pulling out his gun was still falling in the line of protocol, because "lack of lighting is commonly perceived as a sign of criminal activity."[71] Furthermore, the light, as an answer to Kenneth P. Thompson, the Brooklyn district attorney's, request, and had been out of service for number of days without repair. After Liang's bullet ricocheted off the wall and struck Akai Gurley in the chest, officer Liang and his partner Landau did not try to save the dying person who lay in the pool of his own blood. CPR was not performed while time passed.[72]

In August, 2016, New York City reached a settlement with Akai Gurley's family with a fine about 4 million dollars, which was initially sued by Kimberley Ballinger, Akaila's mother, in November 2014. The New York Housing Authority paid 400,000 dollars, and former officer Liang paid 25,000 dollars. All this money will be placed on Akaila, Gurley's two-year-old daughter, but she does not have access to it until she turns 18, or having approval's from Court.[73][74]

After the settlement of Liang's trial, about 260,000 dollar funds were returned to the donors. About 325,000 dollars were given to Liang's family. About 80,000 dollars would be used for Chinese Communities.[75]

The incident received national and international coverage, in part due to the time of its occurrence shortly after the August 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; the July 2014 death of Eric Garner in Staten Island, which also involved police officers; and the Ferguson unrest after Brown's fatal shooting, which had attracted public attention.[76][77]

The New York City Police Department's practice of vertical patrols was also criticized.[78][79] The Village Voice described the incident as part of a year of public relations disasters for the NYPD.[80] Other coverage has focused on the maintenance and public safety issues that led to the death.[81][82][83]

The incident is the subject of the 2020 feature documentary, Down a Dark Stairwell.[84]

On the following Friday, February 12, 2016, Gurley's family, in a joint statement Friday, demanded 'The NYPD permanently end all vertical patrols and stop using the NYPD as your security.' They also requested for Landau to be fired from the department, and for the city to reinvest the fund in programs like "affordable housing", "community centers and after-school programs," instead of using it to keep growing the base of NYPD officers.[39]