New York : A jury found a rookie New York police officer guilty of manslaughter in the 2014 fatal shooting of an unarmed black man — an incident that fueled US protests against police tactics.
Peter Liang now faces up to 15 years in prison for the death of Akai Gurley, a 28-year-old father who was struck in the chest by a bullet that ricocheted off the wall in the stairwell of a Brooklyn public housing project.
The jury found 28-year-old Liang guilty of second-degree manslaughter and official misconduct after a two-week trial in Brooklyn, prosecutors said.
“Today’s verdict represents justice for Akai Gurley who was totally innocent when he was shot and killed that night,” said Brooklyn district attorney Ken Thompson.
The trial was a rare case of a US police officer criminally charged for opening fire, and comes at a time when departments are under scrutiny for the shootings of unarmed suspects, many of them black, and other alleged brutalities.
