Alphecca

Is Your Blood Boiling Yet?

In today's NY Daily News comes this story of a cop on trial for manslaughter:

Scared and alone in a cavernous warehouse without even a bulletproof vest or uniform, a police officer pulled his gun on an unarmed civilian to prove he really was a member of the NYPD, the cop told a grand jury last year.

Officer Bryan Conroy, who is charged with manslaughter in the May 2003 shooting death of Ousmane Zongo, a 43-year-old West African immigrant, conceded in his grand jury testimony that Zongo initially posed no threat to him.
[...]
Assistant District Attorney Armand Durastanti told jurors in his opening statement last week that Conroy's own grand jury testimony would persuade them that he acted recklessly.

Yesterday, they heard this grand jury dialogue between Durastanti and Conroy:

Durastanti: "Did the man do anything threatening toward you at the point that you first saw him, took out your gun and pointed it at him?"

Conroy: "No, he didn't. Like I said, I only pulled out my firearm to identify myself."

Now, it's true that Zongo eventually charged at this cop to grab the gun, but that was only after this police officer -- no badge, no i.d., no uniform, no nothing but his claim that he's a cop and "here's my gun as proof" -- chased him through the building.

This policeman should have simply called for backup and allowed Zongo to escape. After all, it wasn't as if the victim was threatening or armed. In fact, as it turned out, he worked there and had committed no crime.

Does this mean that anyone who pulls someone over or barges into their home or stops them in an ally and pulls out a firearm should be considered a cop just because they say they are? I think gang-bangers have just been given a new strategy for finding victims.

If some guy pulls a gun on me and offers that as the only proof he's a cop, he better hope I don't my own in hand.

This is astoundingly bad judgement or training or supervision on the part of the NYPD. This cop deserves to be on trial BUT SO DOES HIS SUPERVISOR.