Akai Gurley

People

Akai Gurley

Outcome

unknown

On November 20, 2014, at approximately 11:14 p.m., Akai Gurley, a 28-year-old unarmed Black man and father, was fatally shot by NYPD Officer Peter Liang in the darkened stairwell of a public housing building in East New York, Brooklyn. NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton described Gurley as "a total innocent." Officers Peter Liang and Shaun Landau were conducting a "vertical patrol" in the stairwells of Building 5 at the Louis H. Pink Houses, a public housing complex considered among the most dangerous in the city, with dimly lit stairwells presenting particular hazards. Liang, a 27-year-old rookie officer with less than 18 months of experience who had graduated from the police academy in January 2014, had his flashlight in one hand and his service revolver drawn in the other. Simultaneously, Gurley and his girlfriend, 27-year-old Melissa Butler, were descending from Butler's fourth-floor apartment because the elevator was malfunctioning. When they reached the seventh-floor landing and opened the door into the unlit stairwell, Liang—startled by a noise—fired his weapon. The bullet ricocheted off a wall and struck Gurley in the chest. Butler heard the shot and ran; Gurley collapsed on the fifth-floor landing. "Akai took his last breath and died in my hands," Butler later testified. Prosecutors emphasized that after the shooting, Liang failed to immediately report the incident or provide medical assistance to Gurley. Instead, it was Butler and a neighbor who attempted CPR and called for help. According to testimony, Liang said "I'm fired" after the shooting. Liang testified that he believed the gun discharged accidentally and that he thought the bullet had only hit the wall. On February 11, 2016, Liang was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and official misconduct, facing up to 15 years in prison. The conviction galvanized parts of the Chinese American community, with many feeling Liang was being scapegoated while white officers in similar cases faced no charges; rallies were organized in major cities. On March 28, 2016, Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth P. Thompson recommended that Liang serve only house arrest and community service. On April 19, 2016, Justice Danny Chun downgraded the manslaughter conviction to criminally negligent homicide and sentenced Liang to five years probation and 800 hours of community service with no jail time. Liang's partner, Shaun Landau, was fired by the NYPD the day after the conviction. The city later settled a wrongful death lawsuit, paying $4.1 million to Gurley's family, with the Housing Authority contributing $400,000 and Liang personally paying $25,000.