The case of unarmed 28-year-old Akai Gurley, who was shot by Brooklyn rookie cop Peter Liang in East New York, just got more interesting.
According to the NY Daily News, after Liang shot Gurley in the dark stairway, he and his partner were incommunicado for over six minutes. Reports say that the officer made the decision to text his union rep about the incident before he actually sought help from other authorities.
The site reports:
Right after rookie cop Peter Liang discharged a single bullet that struck Gurley, 28, he and his partner Shaun Landau were incommunicado for more than six and a half minutes, sources said Thursday.
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.
Authorities were not aware the shooting occurred until a neighbor made the call to 911. Liang and his partner were reportedly not supposed to be doing stairway patrols that day:
“They’ve done verticals before,” a police source said of the two officers.
“But [Deputy Inspector Miguel Iglesias]’ philosophy was, ‘I want a presence on the street, in the courtyards — and if they go into the buildings they were just supposed to check out the lobby.”
Another source said the commander was furious after the shooting, raging, “I told them not to do verticals.”
The text messages sent to his union rep also show that Liang did not know the exact address of the building where he shot Gurley.
SOURCE: Gawker, NY Daily News | PHOTO CREDIT: Screenshot
