NEW YORK: A New York district attorney said yesterday he would impanel a grand jury to consider charges in the latest police killing of an unarmed black man as the United States grapples with nationwide protests.
Akai Gurley, 28, a father of a young daughter, was shot dead by a single bullet on a dimly lit staircase at a Brooklyn apartment building as he walked with his girlfriend late on November 20.
The New York police commissioner admitted that he had been a totally innocent victim. Gurley’s family has demanded justice for his death ahead of a wake later yesterday and a funeral today.
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson announced yesterday that he would present all the evidence for a grand jury to decide whether charges should be brought.
“It is important to get to the bottom of what happened,” he said. He gave no timetable for the jury to be appointed nor for a decision to be reached.
“I pledge to conduct a full and fair investigation and to give the grand jury all of the information necessary to do its job. That information is still being gathered,” Thompson said.
Grand juries decided not to press charges against white officers responsible for the August 9 shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the July 17 chokehold death of black father of six Eric Garner in New York.
The decision in the Ferguson case sparked looting and arson in the St Louis suburb, while the Garner case triggered two consecutive nights of protests in New York and other major cities.
Gurley’s family, which travelled from Florida for his funeral, told reporters in Brooklyn yesterday that they wanted justice.
AFP
