How cases involving 2 NYPD cops and 2 unarmed men measure up
The indictment of New York Police Department Officer Peter Liang Wednesday on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the stairwell shooting of Akai Gurley comes two months after a grand jury declined to charge Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold death of Eric Garner. Both were unarmed black men who died at the hands of police, and the officers became the subject of criminal investigations.
“But the similarities stop there,” criminal law professor James Cohen said. Garner’s death touched off massive protests and calls for police reform. The encounter was captured on video and widely viewed online. The officer testified before the grand jury.
Gurley’s death occurred during a chance encounter on a pitch black stairwell in a Brooklyn housing project. Liang fired a single shot, and his finger never should have been on the trigger, prosecutors said, but no one believes he intentionally wanted to kill Gurley. Liang didn’t testify in his defense.