A former print journalist and television producer, Liang made the jump to directing with 2014's 9-Man, about a streetball game played in Chinatowns throughout North Americaan intriguing fusion of sports doc and cultural history. A Shot Through The Wall, directed by Aimee Long, premiered at the Bentonville Film Festival in Arkansas in August and is now in post-production. We bring the right treatments to the right patients at the right time. Akai Gurley, a 28-year-old black man, was fatally shot on November 20, 2014, in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, by a New York City Police Department officer. Former NYPD officer Marc Calcano knows first hand the inherent dangers of conducting vertical patrols. Before I moved here in 2nd grade, I lived in Texas. 16 min read. "They are solely dedicated to mentor and train new recruits when they graduate from the police academy., Better training is welcomed by Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch, who believes the Liang verdict will greatly impact the way officers do their jobs. They are affiliated with Staten Island University Hospital. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Judge makes damning comments before sentencing Murdaugh for life, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Mark Gordon arrives at Crawley Police Station after remains found, Two Russian tanks annihilated with bombs by Ukrainian armed forces, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter. [9], Akai Kareem Gurley (c.1986 November 20, 2014) was born in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and moved to New York as a child. The bullet ricocheted off of a wall before it hit Akai Gurley in his chest. Americas. "You can't see what's behind the wall, you can't see what's above," he explained as he walked the I-team through what a vertical patrol would entail. Sylvia Palmer, mother of Akai Gurley, speaks outside state Supreme Court in Brooklyn after hearing NYPD Officer Peter Liang testify about Gurley's 2014 death in a housing project stairwell. Fearing he would lose his job, he bickered with his partner about which one would phone their sergeant privately rather than radioing in a report Liang said he felt would bring an 'unnecessary' response and pull other officers from their posts. He died within a few minutes. See Rivkah Reyes Now At 30. Peter Liang leaves the courtroom after his sentencing in New York, April 19, 2016. [8] On April 19, 2016, Justice Chun sentenced Liang to five years probation and 800 hours community service after downgrading his manslaughter conviction to criminally negligent homicide. Even if we assume that Liang had unintentionally shot Gurley due to a misfire, his subsequent failure to get medical help for him is still unacceptable. [13] Liang had aspired to become a police officer since he was a child. The doctor uses the sample to confirm Kim's infection levels and to prescribe drugs for her; she also asks Kim for informed consent to share the blood sample with a biobank that sequences the sample, creating digital representations of Kim's genetic profile that are shared with numerous research teams . Actor Kenny Leu ( Midway) leads the movie A Shot Through the Wall, inspired by the story of former New York City police officer Peter Liang, who was convicted of criminally negligent homicide in 2016 after killing unarmed Akai Gurley at a Brooklyn housing project, when a bullet from Liang's gun . 4 min read. And now, instead of the hurried adrenaline of the fight against injustice, I find myself reconciling with the fact that for the past two months, I was defending a killer cop someone who brutalizes people of color, and enforces the twisted, racialized instrument of oppression we call a justice system. And, as the article points out, Asian Americans, like whites, enjoy a priceless set of structural privileges and immunities. And there is no denying that. A month later, Liang began serving out his sentence at a non-profit community center in the city, cleaning tables, mopping floors, and preparing meals. [65] Both radioed for an ambulance as Gurley's girlfriend performed CPR. It offered a little bit of hope, because there was dialogue at that moment. Gurley's girlfriend, Melissa Butler, who was with Gurley in the stairwell the night of the shooting, cried as she was escorted out of the courtroom today by Assemblyman Charles Barron. She persevered because she saw this as an important moment in Asian American history which would remain pivotal years from now. No decisions have been made and its a complicated chess board," Shechtman said. Former New York Police Department officer Peter Liang won't spend a day in prison. [29] It was reported that Gurley actually ran after hearing the gunshot and collapsed on the fifth floor. He was negligent, and he killed an innocent man as a result. Normally, I give the benefit of the doubt to the police, even when it is a gray area that theyre in. , is nonsense. I was shocked and in disbelief that someone was hit,' said Liang, 28. Liang is Chinese-American. Peter Liang Caitlin C Murphy Background In May 2021, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force began recommending initiating colorectal cancer screening at age 45 (vs. 50) years. Many hailed the . Our system failed Gurley and it failed Liang. When he fired his gun in a pitch-dark public housing stairwell, he at first thought he had hurt nothing but his career. It appeared neither side knew the other was there and no words were exchanged, according to authorities. And so I think that that that scene was essential for the documentary and, you know, giving the audience a little bit of a model for what can be.. On April 19th, a New York State Supreme Court in Brooklyn sentenced former NYPD officer Peter Liang to five years of probation for the shooting of unarmed Black man Akai Gurley. "Peter Liang is one individual within a larger, corrupted criminal injustice system that doesn't value black nor brown lives," she said. [81] Other coverage has focused on the maintenance and public safety issues that led to the death. He said that neither of them tried to revive Gurley, with both of them saying they did not feel qualified to perform CPR. [37][21], When asked by reporters, Mayor Bill De Blasio did not take any sides in this issue, commenting that it was a "tragedy" to Gurley's family and requesting respect to the court's verdict. A new film based on a 2014 case involving an Asian American police officer who fatally shot an innocent African American man while patrolling New York City is currently in post-production. They graduated from STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK / HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT BROOKLYN / COLLEGE OF MEDICINE in 2015. [11][12], Peter Liang (born c.1987), a Hong Kong American, had less than 18 months of experience with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) at the time of the shooting. Now new officers are assigned two at a time to work with a more experienced . Inside the Peter Liang-Akai Gurley police shooting case, Kamala Harris vows to lift up Asian small businesses, Vietnamese Am man files lawsuit against county deputy, Walmart for false arrest, Ronny Chieng and Hasan Minhaj roast each other on The Daily Show, Two Native Hawaiian men sentenced to prison for hate crimes against White man, US-China tensions bring fresh wave of AAPI xenophobia, Meet Todd Gloria the first AAPI Mayor for San Diego, Journey lead singer Arnel Pineda in a public feud with other band members, Michelle Yeoh wins SAG Award for best actress. Culturally, I was always told to not ruffle any feathers, to not wash dirty laundry outside and to keep my head down, she added, convinced that Asian Americans should now stand in solidarity with other minorities. A day after Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson recommended that former New York police officer Peter Liang not serve time in prison for the fatal shooting of Akai Gurley, an unarmed black. Brown said Liang has four months to get together the $25,000 he must pay to Gurleys family. ", "A Look at Recent Police Killings Cited in Protests", "Like Michael Brown And Eric Garner, Akai Gurley's Death Inspires Anger", "The Year in NYPD Public Relations Disasters", "Let's take the longer view on NYCHA's safety", "After Akai Gurley: The Connection Between Maintenance and Safety in Public Housing", "I-Team: Darkened Stairwell Not the Only Problem at Police Shooting Building", "18 provocative documentaries to look for this year", 1992 Patrolmen's Benevolent Association Riot, 2004 Republican National Convention protest activity, Prospect Park alleged police sodomy incident, Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, 20152016 University of Missouri protests, Donald Trump photo op at St. John's Church, 20202023 MinneapolisSaint Paul racial unrest, Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin, Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement, Holding a Black Lives Matter Sign in America's Most Racist Town, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm, George Floyd Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act, Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act, List of police reforms related to the George Floyd protests, 2020 deployment of federal forces in the United States, Black maternal mortality in the United States, U.S. immigration policy toward the People's Republic of China, One Hundred Years: History of the Chinese in America, Attack on Squak Valley Chinese laborers, 1885, Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, List of U.S. cities with significant Chinese-American populations, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Killing_of_Akai_Gurley&oldid=1142721841, African-AmericanAsian-American relations, African Americans shot dead by law enforcement officers in the United States, New York City Police Department corruption and misconduct, November 2014 events in the United States, November 2014 crimes in the United States, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Manslaughter (reduced at sentencing to criminally negligent homicide), $52 million lawsuit filed by Gurley's family against City of New York, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 00:57. A New York City Law Department spokesperson told NBC News that the city will pay $4.1 million, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) $400,000, and former New York Police Department Officer Peter Liang $25,000. Some current officers who were cadets at around the same time as Liang have said they remember being given the questions to the test before they took the CPR exam. The officer was patrolling the darkened stairs inside a public housing building in Brooklyn on Nov. 20, 2014, when he fired a single shot. Imagine a young patient - Kim - providing blood samples to her doctor. He fired once and the bullet ricocheted, killing Akai Gurley, who was also in the stairwell. Following that hunch became Liang's second documentary, " Down a Dark Stairwell .". Among those not convicted is Daniel Pantaleo, the cop who was caught on video killing Eric Garner, who posed no physical threat, by placing him in a clearly illegal chokehold for 19 seconds during which Garner stated that he couldnt breathe 11 times. "Its just been really hard.. [51][46] Joseph Lin, a real estate agent and activist, had helped to organize the protests due to feeling that Asian Americans had been too passive with no political voice, saying that, "If he's a black officer, I guarantee you Al Sharpton will come out. Police brutality is wrong its unconscionable but I also knew that to selectively prosecute a single Asian American cop would neither make up for ten years of injustice nor advance justice in the years ahead. 'Between you and Melissa Butler, who do you think was in a better position to provide CPR?' Liangs gun discharged and the bullet ricochet off the wall and struck Gurley, killing him. This happened in 2014, the same year Gurley died, but Pantaleo wasnt even indicted, let alone convicted, despite a clearly stronger case and more outrageous wrongdoing. Theres (also) all this secondary trauma and tertiary trauma that happens to the folks that surround them and are working with them that I didnt really anticipate until I was in it.. . Peter Liang is not the victim here just because the system did not cover up his mistakes. In response to the settlement, the mayor's office also called Gurley's death a tragedy. Feng Liang , Jiashen Meng , Shih-Hsin Ho , Tong Zhao , Hui Zhou , Awais Ahmad , Yinlong Zhu , Liangxing Hu . Peter Liang (born c. 1987 ), a Hong Kong American, had less than 18 months of experience with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) at the time of the shooting. Actor Kenny Leu ( Midway) leads the movie A Shot Through the Wall, inspired by the story of former New York City police officer Peter Liang, who was convicted of criminally negligent homicide. Liang had already made inroads into the Chinese American community with her debut film in 2012, 9 Man, a vicious game of street volleyball unique to the Asian American community. A jury convicted Liang of second-degree manslaughter in February for Gurley's death. Everything you see today is built on the backs of warriors who have sacrificed opportunities to help give Asians all over the world a bigger voice. 1.Introduction. Weve seen bureaucracy, corruption and lots of shirking of responsibility that have led to Peter Liang becoming a scapegoat, Jerry Lo, a protester from Long Island, told the National Public Radio. Those who are angered by the double standard between how the state holds white and Chinese American officers accountable must fight in solidarity with African Americans and other people of color to transform a . See Charlie Korsmo Now At 44. Granted, there were some. (Seth Wenig/AP) "Peter Liang was sworn. [3] Liang turned himself in to authorities the next day and was arraigned. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? A daily dose of Asian America's essential stories - in under 5 minutes, 2022 NextShark, Inc. All rights reserved.Terms & Conditions. Then he went looking for the bullet and heard someone crying. Brown, who is also representing Liang in that suit, said he filed a motion to dismiss two months ago, joined by the city and NYCHA, and could hear back on a decision as early as this week. Liang, who said he didnt feel qualified to administer CPR, stood by as Butler performed the procedure on Gurley, according to testimony. Liang, who is Chinese American, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and one count of official misconduct for the shooting of Akai Gurley, a 28-year-old black man and father, during an. assign Asian Americans to a position of privilege, after all, arent we the model minority?, Its a paradoxical existence. The protests largely centered around two claims. [49] Delores Jones-Brown, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, speculated to The Atlantic that Liang would have avoided conviction had he rendered aid to Gurley, while jurors later reported that the effort required for them to pull the trigger on a police-issued pistol led them to disbelieve that Liang's testimony was completely true. Gurley and his girlfriend entered the seventh-floor stairwell, fourteen steps below them. ", "Chinese social media platform plays a role in U.S. rallies for NYPD officer", "Peter Liang To Be Sentenced Tuesday for Manslaughter Conviction", "NYPD cop Peter Liang gets community service for killing Akai Gurley", "Bratton: Fatal Police-Involved Shooting of Unarmed Man at Brooklyn Housing Complex 'Unfortunate Tragedy', "Man killed by NYPD rookie planned to surprise mom in Florida", "Residents of Brooklyn Housing Project Stay Wary After Officer Is Indicted", "Living in fear at the dark & deadly hellhole houses", "Akai Gurley's Death Shines Harsh Light On Vertical Patrols In Public Housing", "In Tears On Stand, NYPD Cop Recalls Fatal Shooting of Akai Gurley", "Officer Peter Liang, on Stand, Breaks Down as He Recalls Brooklyn Killing", "Here's What It'd Take To Convict The NYPD Cop Who Killed Akai Gurley", "Rookie cops often assigned to dangerous 'vertical patrols', "Tragic justice served in manslaughter conviction of NYPD Officer Peter Liang for Akai Gurley's killing", "Stairwell shooting cop trained to have gun drawn: fellow officers", "NYPD Officer Pleads Not Guilty in Shooting Death of Unarmed Man", "Liang's appeal to focus on jurors handling his gun", "Officer's Errant Shot Kills Unarmed Brooklyn Man", "Panicked rookie NYPD officer fatally shoots unarmed 28-year-old man in Brooklyn's Pink Houses project", "NYPD officer breaks down during testimony about Akai Gurley shooting", "Lupica: Shooting of Akai Gurley doesn't make East New York into Ferguson, or officer into a criminal", "In Princeton, Chinese Protesters Charge NYPD with Scapegoating Officer Liang", "Liang case underlines issue of race in NYC", "Peter Liang is unlucky to be an Asian New York cop", "A Police Killing Puts Heavy Expectations on a Prosecutor", "Grand Jury To Hear Case Of Unarmed Man Shot By New York Cop In Stairwell", "De Blasio doubts Liang conviction will have chilling effect on police", "Relatives Mourn Akai Gurley, An Innocent Man Killed By The NYPD", "Memorial for Akai Gurley, Unarmed Man Shot by NYPD, Set for Today", "Residents See Little Change Since Cop Killed Innocent Man In Darkened Stairwell", "Dangerous NYPD Assignment In The Spotlight At Officer's Trial After Bronx Shooting", "Shootings in Public Housing Project Highlight Risks of Stairwell Patrols", "Is Police Officer Peter Liang a Scapegoat?