The NYPD is under fire once again for their role in the shooting and killing of an unarmed 22-year-old national guardsman on the Grand Central Parkway near LaGuardia Airport.
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Noel Polanco was killed when an NYPD emergency service unit officer pulled him over during a traffic stop after they noticed he was driving erratically.
According to NY1:
During a traffic stop on the Grand Central Parkway, friend if Noel, Diane DeFerrari said she believes a NYPD emergency service unit officer intentionally killed Polanco during the stop.
“All you had to do was pull him over and ask him for his freaking license and registration and take him to jail,” she said. “There was no reason for the innocent kid to be killed.”
Police say ESU officers in an unmarked van and a truck spotted Polanco’s Honda weaving in and out of traffic. They forced the 22-year-old, a national guardsman, to pull over.
Officers in uniform approached the car. One of them, 13-year veteran Hassan Hamdy, fired a shot through the passenger window, hitting Polanco in the abdomen.
DeFerrari said cops ordered them to put their hands up but the shot was fired at the same time.
“No, he did not have a chance to put his hands up,” she said. “The shot came right past my face and shot him.”
DeFerrari said the cops went wild after Polanco cut off one of their vehicles.
What makes matters worse was that no gun was found in the car. Police said there was a power drill sticking from underneath the front seat. DeFerrari said she knew nothing about a drill but said the officers were heavily armed.
The investigation continues as to why the ESU officer reacted in such a violent and deadly way.
According to an Army spokesman, Polanco enlisted in the New York Army National Guard in April 2008 and was assigned to the 156th Engineer Company out of Kingston, N.Y. He did not serve in Iraq or Afghanistan and had no record of misbehavior. He lived in LeFrak City in Queens.
SOURCE: NY1
