A year after Saheed Vassell’s death, his parents are still searching for justice
“The first thing the NYPD did was blame him for his own death.”
Thursday marked one year since NYPD officers shot and killed Saheed Vassell, a black man carrying a pipe police mistook for a gun down a Crown Heights street.
The case reignited anger about police shootings of black men and the way the NYPD interacts with emotionally disturbed persons.
Vassell’s parents rallied on the steps of City Hall on Wednesday after Attorney General Letitia James announced her office would not bring criminal charges against the officers who shot their son. They called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to fire the four cops involved.