Rookie NYPD officer who shot Akai Gurley in Brooklyn stairwell (Liang was walking around with his weapon drawn and said he accidently shot Gurley) was texting union rep as victim lay dying. In the six and a half minutes after Peter Liang discharged a single bullet that struck Gurley, 28, he and his partner couldnt be reached, sources told the Daily News. And instead of calling for help for the dying man, Liang was texting his union representative. Whats more, the sources said, the pair of officers werent supposed to be patrolling the stairways of the Pink Houses that night. In the critical moments after the Nov. 20 shooting, the cops’ commanding officer and an emergency operator — responding to a 911 call from a neighbor and knowing the duo was in the area — tried to reach them in vain, sources said. “That’s showing negligence,” said a law enforcement source of the pair’s decision to text their union rep before making a radio call for help. “The guy is dying and you still haven’t called it in?” To make things even worse, the officers were uncertain of the exact address of the building in the Pink Houses they were in, according to their text messages, the sources said. Adding to the tragedy surrounding Gurley’s death, the officers involved were not supposed to be doing a patrol in the stairways, the sources said. Deputy Inspector Miguel Iglesias, then the head officer of the local housing command, ordered them not to carry out such patrols, known as verticals. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton characterized the incident as an “unfortunate tragedy” and an accident. Officials said Liang was holding a flashlight in his right hand and a Glock 9-mm. in the other when he opened the door to the eighth-floor landing. One bullet flew out and apparently ricocheted into the chest of Gurley, who was on the seventh-floor landing and taking the stairs with his girlfriend Melissa Butler, 27. The victim stumbled down to the fifth floor and Butler knocked on a woman’s door on the fourth floor, pleading for help. That woman called 911. When Liang and Landau finally resurfaced on the radio, they reported an accidental discharge, added the source. Authorities have said they didn’t immediately know anyone was struck with the bullet.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 17:10:52 +0000
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