NEW YORK – New York Police Department rookie patrolman Peter Liang was arraigned Wednesday for the fatal shooting of an unarmed African-American man.Liang, 27, appeared in a Brooklyn courtroom to listen to the charges, which include manslaughter – carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years – and official misconduct.
He was released without bail after entering a plea of not guilty.
Akai Gurley, 28, was killed Nov. 20 while leaving the Louis Pink Houses, a public housing complex in Brooklyn.
Liang and another rookie officer were in the stairwell when Gurley and his girlfriend, a building resident, entered on their way down to the lobby.
Both officers were using flashlights, as the lights in the stairwell were burned out, and Liang also had his gun drawn.
Liang accidentally shot Gurley at a distance of about 10 feet (3 meters), the NYPD said at the time.
Authorities announced Tuesday that a Brooklyn grand jury had voted to indict the officer.
Gurley’s death came four months after another African-American man, Eric Garner, died after a white NYPD officer applied a chokehold while trying to arrest him for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes.
The 43-year-old Garner, who was asthmatic, died of asphyxiation. The medical examiner classified the July 17 death as a homicide and said the chokehold was a factor.
Even so, a grand jury in the New York borough of Staten Island declined to charge the officer.
The Staten Island decision was announced 11 days after a St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict white police officer Darren Wilson for the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
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