Liang was sentenced to 800 hours of community . You understand that theres a level of trauma when youre dealing with a family that has lost somebody. In April, a judge reduced Liang's manslaughter conviction to criminally negligent homicide and sentenced Liang to five years probation and 800 hours of community service. A New York City Law Department spokesperson told NBC News that the city will pay $4.1 million, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) $400,000, and former New York Police Department Officer Peter Liang $25,000. Some 40 people gathered at the Pink Houses in Brooklyn Saturday to protest prosecutors plans to recommend no jail at the April 14 sentencing of ex-cop Peter Liang. Would You Like That With A Side of Grits Or An Egg Roll. And back then, it made sense. "From retraining our officers to adding body cameras to launching neighborhood policing, our administration is taking significant steps to strengthen the relationship between our officers and the communities they serve," deputy press secretary Monica Klein said in a statement to NBC News. Learn how your comment data is processed. She also hired a diverse film crew and thought carefully about who should come with her to different events. [81] Other coverage has focused on the maintenance and public safety issues that led to the death. Thousands walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan's Chinatown in April to demand the charges to be dropped, as had been done in the past with white officers. Unfolding in the dark stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project, the shooting inflamed the residents of New York City and thrust two marginalized communities together into the uneven criminal justice system. They requested Landau be fired from the department and for the city to invest in programs like affordable housing, community centers, and after-school programs, instead of hiring more NYPD officers.[38]. Peter Liang became an officer in June 2013, which likely meant there was one training officer for about a dozen rookies. And there was a little bit of a bridging, of opinions and, and listening. He was negligent, and he killed an innocent man as a result. He was the father of a two-year-old girl. A friend of mine (who is Asian American) once told me a story from when he was a kid: He and five other friends (all of whom were white) went to one of the friends house and was told by the friends dad that there was only room for five: Its a special kind of loneliness when suddenly you realize why, when that kids dad said there was only room for five, everyone else knew he was talking to you., Contact Terence Zhao at terencezhao at stanford.edu. The 1990s. - - . Gurley and his girlfriend entered the seventh-floor stairwell, fourteen steps below them. But that moment has passed. But I just think that he [Liang] did something wrong and he should be held accountable for it, Ling told NPR. Peter Obi has urged the Obidients to remain calm and persistent in insisting that the right thing be done at all times. He fired once and the bullet ricocheted, killing Akai Gurley, who was also in the stairwell. Assistant District Attorney[70] Joseph Alexis claimed the killing wasn't an accident and that Liang chose to place the finger on the trigger. [13] I guess I came to as a concerned citizen, knowing that this is like, a really important issue and policing is essential and needs some like real real change. During the trial, Liang and his partner said they did not really learn CPR in the academy even though they were certified. never making any promises about the direction the film would take. DR ELLIE CANNON: My breast has not got lumps but it's itchy, should I be concerned about cancer at age 72? Activists protest against the sentence received by former New York Police Officer Peter Liang for manslaughter in the killing of Akai Gurley, outside a Brooklyn courthouse in New York, April 19, 2016. That became an effective vehicle to offer a diverse range of perspectives in the film. A new film based on a 2014 case involving an Asian American police officer who fatally shot an innocent African American man while patrolling New York City is currently in post-production. The NYPD and Mayor de Blasio argue that vertical patrols are essential to safety in public housing. Liang said he felt it better to wait, instead, for professional help. Former NYPD officer Marc Calcano knows first hand the inherent dangers of conducting vertical patrols. [44][45], Following his conviction, Asian Americans denounced the verdict at various gatherings across the country. — -- A former New York City police officer who shot an unarmed man to death won't face any jail time after a judge today reduced his manslaughter conviction to criminally negligent homicide. "Its just been really hard.. 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Do not sell or share my personal information. 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. Liang has already tried once to get his conviction thrown out, which was denied. A jury convicted Liang in February of second-degree manslaughter and official misconduct for accidentally firing a shot while, with his gun drawn, he began a vertical patrol with his partner on the eighth floor of a darkened stairwell at the Louis H. Pink Houses. I cant help but bring in a quote from The Great Gatsby, where Nick Carraway describes his role at a party: I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.. Justice was served for him. [77][78], The New York City Police Department's practice of vertical patrols was also criticized. [10], The continued conduct of vertical patrols has also been scrutinized in the wake of Gurley's shooting. 2023 THE STANFORD DAILY PUBLISHING CORPORATION, Privacy Policy Accessibility Advertise, Donate and support The Daily when you shop on Amazon, On April 19th, a New York State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, former NYPD officer Peter Liang to five years of probation for the, shooting of unarmed Black man Akai Gurley, Earlier this year, Liangs conviction drew fierce backlash from New Yorks Chinese-American community. The late Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson was not of sound mind during his final months in office, one of his top prosecutors told The Post on Tuesday. We cant afford the luxury of sitting on the sidelines and just watching. Liang said he fired unintentionally after a noise startled him while he was patrolling with his gun drawn, his finger on the weapon's side. Its a truly monumental and unprecedented show of force, demonstrating a level of organization and mobilization that neither I nor anyone else thought the community was capable of achieving and man, it was a breathtakingly powerful force to behold. Liang faces manslaughter and other charges. We stand by that but were Police Commissioner Bill Bratton blasted Assemblyman Charles Barron on Friday, saying the state lawmaker practically committed a criminal act by threatening that violence is inevitable if stairwell-shoot cop Peter Liang The fact that he says hes sorry didnt bring Akai back, Kimberly Ballinger told her lawyer after meeting Thursday with Peter Liang the now-former cop who accidentally killed her Assemblyman Charles Barron on Thursday warned of riots, saying violence is inevitable if former NYPD officer Peter Liang gets the no-jail sentence recommended by Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson. Americas. DOWN A DARK STAIRWELL TO PREMIERE ON PBS AND THE PBS VIDEO APP ON APRIL 12, 2021 Documentary Casts an Insightful Light on the Complexities of Police Reform in an Uneven Criminal Justice System On a. On February 12, 2016, Gurley's family demanded the NYPD permanently end all vertical patrols. First, that the death of Mr. Gurley was not intentional; this argument, given the facts, is nonsense. Filmmaker Ursula Liang managed to get inside both camps and gave viewers a unique look in her film Down the Dark Stairwell. A jury found Liang guilty of manslaughter in February 2016 and was sentenced to 15 years in jail. [24] At the time the gun was discharged, the stairwell on the 8th floor was pitch black due to a broken light bulb. Brown said Liang has up to nine months from April 19, the day Liang was sentenced in Brooklyn State Supreme Court, to file appeal arguments. He asserted to have been startled when Stansbury pushed open a rooftop door in a place where drug dealing was rampant. He believed Liang would be much more productive spending time in community service.[68][9][69]. Still, building trust in her own community wasnt easy. A month later, Liang began serving out his sentence at a non-profit community center in the city, cleaning tables, mopping floors, and preparing meals. "They are solely dedicated to mentor and train new recruits when they graduate from the police academy., Better training is welcomed by Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch, who believes the Liang verdict will greatly impact the way officers do their jobs. [73], In August 2016, New York City reached an agreement with Gurley's family for $4.1 million, settling a lawsuit brought by Kimberley Ballinger, Akaila's mother. She let each side have its say. But what exactly are we, as Asian Americans, supposed to do with this power? Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. He Played 'Andy Barclay' In Child's Play 1 & 2. A jury convicted Liang of second-degree manslaughter in February for Gurley's death. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. In the past decade, 121 unarmed civilians were killed by NYPD officers. Officer Peter Liang, 27, had his firearm drawn. Normally, I give the benefit of the doubt to the police, even when it is a gray area that theyre in. The first week of the trial for Peter Liang, the NYPD officer who shot and killed 28-year-old Akai Gurley in a Brooklyn stairwell in November 2014, rounded out with a close look at Liang's. [55], Gurley's death was one of several police killings of African Americans protested by the Black Lives Matter movement. Terence Zhao '19 originally hails from Beijing, China, before immigrating to the US and settling in Arcadia, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles. [37][21], When asked by reporters, Mayor Bill De Blasio did not take any sides in this issue, commenting that it was a "tragedy" to Gurley's family and requesting respect to the court's verdict. Liang, who said he didnt feel qualified to administer CPR, stood by as Butler performed the procedure on Gurley, according to testimony. RELATED: Peter Liang Won't See Jail Time as Manslaughter Charge Reduced. When he fired his gun in a pitch-dark public housing stairwell, he at first thought he had hurt nothing but his career. Fliedner was also the prosecutor who won a manslaughter conviction against NYPD cop Peter Liang for the 2014 accidental shooting of Akai Gurley in a darkened housing-project stairwell. Even though Peter Liang will not end up serving jail time, the initial facts of this case have not changed; his conviction still stands, and so he remains the only NYPD officer to be convicted of killing an unarmed civilian in a decade, while 120 of his colleagues who did the exact same walk free. Our system failed Gurley and it failed Liang. Their office accepts new patients. Q SO-KO, Nagoya, 11 March - 7 May. While our sentencing recommendation was fair under the unique circumstances of this case, we respectfully disagree with the judges decision to reduce the jurys verdict and will fight to reverse it on appeal., Liang could have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for the manslaughter conviction, but Thompson, who has said the officer should not have had his finger on the gun unless he was ready to shoot, told the judge last month that "a prison sentence is not warranted. Peter Liang is . And, as the article points out, Asian Americans, like whites, enjoy a priceless set of structural privileges and immunities. And there is no denying that. Anger: Almost 15,000 gathered in Brooklyn on Saturday protesting the treatment of Chinese-American cop Peter Liang, who was convicted of manslaughter on February 11 after shooting an unarmed. Liang, who was convicted in February of manslaughter and official . They graduated from STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK / HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT BROOKLYN / COLLEGE OF MEDICINE in 2015. Anastasia Savira, Echolocation (still), 2023. [25] Liang's gun discharged as he opened the door and the bullet ricocheted off the wall and struck Gurley once in the chest. Gurley's girlfriend, Melissa Butler, who was with Gurley in the stairwell the night of the shooting, cried as she was escorted out of the courtroom today by Assemblyman Charles Barron. Granted, there were some. [66][67], On April 19, 2016, Justice Chun reduced Liang's conviction from manslaughter to criminally negligent homicide then sentenced Liang to five years of probation and 800 hours community service. The gathering was organized by CAAAV Organizing Asian. By Valerie Edwards For Dailymail.com and Associated Press, Published: 16:08 EST, 8 February 2016 | Updated: 19:35 EST, 8 February 2016, NYPD Officer Peter Liang cried on the stand as he recalled the deadly shooting of unarmed Akai Gurley in a poorly lit stairwell of public housing. Even a $1 contribution goes a long way. . Peter Liang was 28 years old and 18 months out of the police academy when he was patrolling a public housing project in Brooklyn, New York, in November 2014. [65] Both radioed for an ambulance as Gurley's girlfriend performed CPR. [3] Liang turned himself in to authorities the next day and was arraigned. On a fall day in 2014, Peter Liang, a Chinese American police officer, shot and killed an innocent, unarmed black man named Akai Gurley. Similarity to the shooting of Timothy Stansbury Jr. Akai Kareem Gurley's funeral service program, December 6, 2014, Brown Memorial Baptist Church, Brooklyn, Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York, List of killings by law enforcement officers in the United States, "Former NYPD Cop Peter Liang's Guilty Verdict Leaves a Community Divided", "A Guilty Verdict in the Akai Gurly Case", "Liang had 'thousand-yard stare' after staircase shooting, fellow cop testifies", "How Should Asian-Americans Feel About the Peter Liang Protests? The NYPD says they have been gradually shifting away from the old model of police training. slide chapter introduction to computers, programs, and java liang, introduction to java programming, eleventh edition, 2017 pearson education, inc. all rights Skip to document Ask an Expert "[49], Nearly 15,000 people protested on behalf of Liang in New York on February 20, 2016,[50] with similar turnouts across the United States that day. What supporters of Peter Liang are asking for is to grant Liang, like Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo, the license to take black lives at will. After hearing a noise, Liang, who was on a pitch-dark stairwell, accidentally fired his weapon. Then he went looking for the bullet and heard someone crying. Granted, there were some cooler heads in the mix, but those more race-conscious protesters were few and far in between. She said the organizers had a real emotional stake in what happened and that spilled over to her film crew as well. Officer Peter Liang is charged with manslaughter in the shooting of 28-year-old Akai Gurley in November of 2014. Courtesy the artist and Q SO-KO. Peter Wilmshurst wrote a long blog post on the occasion of Lancet's . Police brutality is wrong its unconscionable but I also knew that to selectively prosecute a single Asian American cop would neither make up for ten years of injustice nor advance justice in the years ahead. A grand jury in 2015 indicted the fired New York police officer of five counts including manslaughter in the death of Akai Gurley, a Black man. Others, however, said Liang had to be held accountable for his actions because he took a life. [4] Many felt that Liang (an Asian American) was being used as a scapegoat; Chinese Americans organized rallies in major cities via WeChat, Facebook, Twitter, and email. [11][12], 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Alexander Leissle. ", "New York City, Peter Liang to Pay Over $4 Million Settlement to Family of Akai Gurley", "As civil suit dismissed, Peter Liang expected to not appeal conviction", " Where Do Funds Raised for Peter Liang Go? That money will be invested in annuities to provide around $10 million for Akaila over her life, the Daily News reported. [60][61] He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released without having to post bond, and suspended from his job without pay. Peter Liang Won't See Jail Time as Manslaughter Charge Reduced, who said he didnt feel qualified to administer CPR, Ex-Cop Peter Liang Apologizes to Akai Gurley's Domestic Partner in Meeting, a judge reduced Liang's manslaughter conviction, who apologized to Ballinger for shooting Gurle. "[72] Furthermore, the light had been out of service for a number of days without repair. [57][58][59], On February 10, 2015, Officer Liang was indicted by a grand jury for the shooting death of Gurley. According to Landau's words, his instructor at the police academy helped them to cheat on the exams. "I never expected this to happen," Butler said. I remember when I first heard the news, and spewed out this article in an angry, despondent word vomit. A former print journalist and television producer, Liang made the jump to directing with 2014's 9-Man, about a streetball game played in Chinatowns throughout North Americaan intriguing fusion of sports doc and cultural history. Marc Fliedner, A former top prosecutor in Brooklyn plans to run for district attorney next year, The Post has learned. If he's Hispanic, all the congressmen will come out. "Until we find a better way and safer way, and one that the community understands, but also allows police officers to do their job in a safe manner," Mullins said. Officers Patrick Espeut and Diara Cruz were wounded by a gunman who later killed himself. [22] The department also insists that officers place their fingers on the trigger only upon encountering extreme and particularized danger. The judge has barred any mention of those shootings in Liang's trial. He was convicted of manslaughter and official misconduct on February 11, 2016, facing up to 15 years of prison time. Tin Ling, from Brooklyn, felt Asians and Black people should unite for this purpose. Liang's testimony came four days after two other New York City officers were shot and wounded while on stairwell patrol in a different public housing complex. Instead, activist Kevin Powell spoke at the service. For 5 years, Calcano patrolled stairwells on the Upper West Side and Harlem, trying to stop criminal activity. The other day, we endorsed Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson's call for ex-cop Peter Liang to do no prison time after his manslaughter conviction. Liang entered a dark stairwell while patrolling a public housing complex in New York when Gurley apparently startled him. Sylvia Palmer, mother of Akai Gurley, speaks outside state Supreme Court in Brooklyn after hearing NYPD Officer Peter Liang testify about Gurley's 2014 death in a housing project stairwell. In his spare time, he likes to explore cities and make pointless maps. I have the same name as the police officer, but I thought that it might be a little bit of a trigger for folks.. Q SO-KO, a new space in a converted Nagoya warehouse, is marking its arrival with an enticing two-hander entitled Placeness. Earlier this year, Liangs conviction drew fierce backlash from New Yorks Chinese-American community. [32][33][34], New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton declared the shooting to be an accident and that Gurley was a "total innocent. Officer Richard Neri killed Stansbury, 19, on a roof of the Louis Armstrong Houses in Brooklyn at about 1 am. Convicted former NYPD officer Peter Liang was conducting a vertical patrol the night his gun went off in a dark stairwell. Shortly after Liangs sentencing, people carrying Black Lives Matter signs gathered outside the courthouse, while those supporting him aggregated on the other side. Akai Gurley, a 28-year-old black man, was fatally shot on November 20, 2014, in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, by a New York City Police Department officer. , where Nick Carraway describes his role at a party: A friend of mine (who is Asian American) once told me a story from when he was a kid: He and five other friends (all of whom were white) went to one of the friends house and was told by the friends dad that there was only room for five: . On 14th, the first competition day after the opening of the 28th Olympic Games August13, women's . Thompson said in a statement today his office "vigorously prosecuted" Liang for manslaughter "because the evidence established that his conduct was criminal and the rule of law demanded that he be held accountable for his actions in taking Akai Gurleys life.