Former NYPD Officer Peter Liang Gets Probation For Fatal Shooting
“A judge in New York City has sentenced former NYPD officer Peter Liang, who was convicted of manslaughter and official misconduct last month in the 2014 fatal shooting of Akai Gurley, to five years’ probation and 800 hours of community service.
Justice Danny Chun also reduced the manslaughter conviction to criminally negligent homicide, NPR’s Hansi Lo Wang reports, adding that prosecutors say they will appeal that decision.”
From: Former NYPD Officer Peter Liang Gets Probation For Fatal Shooting : The Two-Way : NPR
Why was this officer held responsible for his actions? Turns out he wasn’t. I’m curious if this changes things for Vikram in any way.
As with many of these cases, what’s enraging is not the fact that an NYPD officer got lenience in this case, but that it would be unimaginable for any other member of society to get this kind of lenient treatment in the same circumstances. Moreover, it doesn’t seem like treating the police with kid gloves is reciprocated, given that Liang argued with his partner about whether to call for help and neither officer performed CPR because “Mr. Landau said he had received about two minutes of CPR training and never read the textbooks he was given” (I’m not making that up).Report
“it would be unimaginable for any other member of society to get this kind of lenient treatment in the same circumstances. ”
+1 SirReport
He’s a victim of society.
He wasn’t breast fed.
He went to school hungry.
He only pawn in game of life.
What excuse am I leaving out?Report
I thought I saw a gun
Stop resisting
He looked like he was going to attack me (also works for dogs)
I have PTSD
I’m sure there are more.Report
We need a “report comment for being awesome” button*.
(No. No we don’t.)Report
Yes we do! So I can flag you as awesome!Report
What stands out to me is that this case seems to simultaneously be one of the less egregious instances of an officer involved shooting, which means the result is simultaneously understandable and downright infuriating.
On the one hand, it is hard to argue that Liang should be in prison for what seems like a genuine accident (albeit the result of a series of missteps by both him and those above/around him) while other cops who have done far worse and with seemingly far greater intention or negligence are walking the streets. On the other, holy shit, cops really need to stop killing people and refusing/failing to punish them is unlikely to help.
In a way, I have *some* empathy for Liang as an individual while carrying intense disdain and railing against the machine that produced him and which he is very much a part of.Report