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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNew York officer to stand trial for fatal shooting of black man
Source: Reuters
New York officer to stand trial for fatal shooting of black man
NEW YORK | BY JOSEPH AX
The manslaughter trial of a New York City police officer who fired the bullet that killed an unarmed black man in the darkened stairwell of a housing project is due to begin on Thursday.
Officer Peter Liang is also charged with reckless endangerment, official misconduct and other counts for his actions inside a Brooklyn public housing complex on the night of Nov. 20, 2014.
The death of the victim, 28-year-old Akai Gurley, added to the outrage that fueled national protests over police use of force against minorities in cities including Ferguson, Missouri; Baltimore and Cleveland.
Liang's lawyers have said the shooting was accidental.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-police-trial-idUSKCN0UX1F0
tblue37
(65,488 posts)facing charges, *sometimes* losing their jobs--or at least being suspended for a while *without* pay-- as well as being publicly shamed by many, many people, even if some still support them, *might* begin to have at least some effect on their sense of being completely immune to consequences no matter what crimes they commit and then criminally lie to cover up.
Even Darren Wilson is suffering *some* consequences. No PD will hire him now, though he desperately wants to be a cop again. He can't even hold a different job because of his notoriety, so he has to live off charity, the "kindness of strangers" who support cops who kill unarmed black men (or anyone else from a marginalized group).
He lives in hiding, afraid because of death threats. (Probably also afraid of being confronted and insulted if he is recognized.) He and his wife go only to restaurants with a comfortably white clientele: " '. . . (somewhere) with like-minded individuals,' he said. 'You know. Where it's not a mixing pot.' "
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/04/us/darren-wilson-new-yorker-interview/
Wilson said he's tried to find police work elsewhere, but hasn't been able to find a job.
After a grand jury declined to indict him, he wanted to get back on the streets of Ferguson. But he was told he'd be a liability, Wilson told the magazine.
He worked for two weeks at a boot store, stocking inventory, but quit when reporters started calling the store.
"No matter what I do, they try to get a story off of it," he said.
Now, if some of those "good" cops who support the guilty ones' lies and help cover up the crimes they commit start facing consequences (because of the accumulation of video evidence), maybe we will eventually see a crack or two in that blue wall of silence.
Right now "good" cops are more afraid of what other cops will do to them if they don't support every bad act or coverup. But maybe we can make them fear that their own lies, exposed on videos, will cause them trouble enough to make lying to cover for a brutal cop a less safe choice.