Asian Americans Raising Questions About Possible NYPD Brass Negligence
By Stephen Witt (Exclusive from Our Time Press)
As protests surrounding unpunished police misconduct continued around the city last week, eyes are beginning to shift to the investigation involving the Nov. 20 shooting death of Akai Gurley in the darkened stairwell of the Pink Houses.
The investigation, however, is already causing some concern in the Asian-American community where some feel that rookie police officer Peter Liang, who shot Gurley, may be used as a scapegoat for a conviction following incidents where white cops walked free in the Ferguson, Missouri shooting death of Michael Brown and the choke hold death of Eric Garner in Staten Island.
Liang, who was doing a vertical patrol on the stairwell with another rookie cop, Shaun Landau, discharged his drawn gun once when Gurley appeared in the stairwell with his girlfriend. In contrast, Brown was shot six times by a cop, and several police piled onto Garner in the chokehold incident while EMS workers on the scene took several minutes in treating Garner after he lost consciousness on the sidewalk.
“PBA (Police Benevolent Association) President Pat Lynch hasn’t defended Liang in any way,” said Karlin Chan, who is a member of Community Board 3 in Manhattan’s Chinatown and is an often quoted in Chinese language newspapers as an independent community activist. “It doesn’t seem like the PBA will work hard at defending him. They may just let this guy (Liang) out to dry because they know if he doesn’t get indicted there will be even more protests.”
Chan said the Gurley incident also raises negligence questions on the part of the NYPD chain of command such as why two rookie cops were doing vertical patrols in a crime-plagued public housing project in the first place without some veteran supervision.
Even in restaurants new waiters have to start out shadowing more experienced waiters, said Chan.
PBA spokesman Albert O’Leary responded that the Gurley shooting was a tragic incident, but the PBA doesn’t have any more information than what was reported.
“There’s nothing we can say about it and all we ever ask for is a complete through investigation and the results are what they are,” he said.
The New York Daily News, citing unnamed sources, reported that Liang and Landau texted their PBA union reps before they called the incident in.
The paper, citing unnamed sources, also reported that Deputy Inspector Miguel Iglesias, the head officer of the local housing command on Nov. 20, ordered Liang and Landau not to carry out vertical patrols, and instead wanted just exterior policing in response to a spate of violence at the East New York housing project.
But in January, the Daily News also reported that Police Commissioner William Bratton ordered rookies to be in precinct houses and not on crime-plagued streets without more veteran cop supervision.
Elizabeth Ouyang, president of the Organization of Chinese Americans New York Branch, which advocates on behalf of Asian/Pacific –Americans, said she is monitoring the situation and not rushing to judgment, adding her organization also protests against police brutality.
“The process has to play out. It is going to be presented to a grand jury like the other two incidents and at this stage it is to premature to say if Officer Liang is being used as a scapegoat or not,” Ouyang said.
Meanwhile, Kings County District Attorney Ken Thompson is in the process of presenting evidence regarding the Gurley shooting to the grand jury.
“There is no timetable for the grand jury to be impaneled or for its determination to be reached,” said Thompson. “I pledge to conduct a full and fair investigation and to give the grand jury all of the information necessary to do its job.”
