On Friday, a police officer from New York City was fired a day after a jury convicted his partner for manslaughter. According to the police report, the police officer was involved in shooting an unarmed man in Brooklyn back in 2014. Ever since the fatal shooting occurred, Shaun Landau had been on modified duty. The 28-year-old was then required to testify against the trial of his partner, Officer Peter Liang. But before he went on stage, he asked to be immune from prosecution.
The NY Times reported that on Nov. 20, 2014, the two were conducting a vertical patrol in a stairwell inside a public housing complex in East New York area where the shooting occurred. While on patrol duty at the Louis H. Pink Houses, the gun Officer Liang was holding fired a shot and ricocheted off a wall before piercing the 28-year-old victim, Akai Gurley, in the heart. Gurley was unarmed during the incident.
During trials, neither of the two officers attempted to help the victim. Additionally, they informed a Brooklyn jury that they felt unqualified to perform CPR on the wounded individual. This prompted the jurors to decide that Officer Liang had been guilty of manslaughter and official misconduct. The decision of the court was announced on Thursday leading to his immediate dismissal from the police department.
At the time of the incident, the two officers were still on their two-year probationary period. The police commissioner waited until the end of the trial as to whether or not Officer Landau would be removed from the probation period. But based on the decision of the jury, the police commissioner had finally made a decision to terminate Landau because of his actions on the time of the incident. Liang was indicted last year and could still face prison time of up to 15 years.
Gurley is just one of the many unarmed black men who had been a victim on the hands of police officers. His death is a constant memory of that as it continues to be a national debate over the issue.
