Something has to be missing from this story… Officer, not on an assigned call… just checking the premises, on an unlit stairwell hears a noise and shoots… that’s not incompetence… that’s manslaughter. The fact that he calls his union rep. or HR Block is of no consequence…He shot at a noise… and killed somebody. This is NOT the work of a policeman.
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My understanding is that the two police officers were literally being COPs - constables on patrol.
Except it was a legal takedown manuever that is used by the NYPD. Its why the black female superior officer who saw the tape said he didn’t do anything wrong. Autopsy shows Garner wasn’t choked at all.His airways were not restricted by the officer. Garner died due to a heart attack brought on by obesity and resisting arrest.
In the context of racism as practiced in the US it does indeed make sense.
Texting was proven to be rumor already: 2/3 in this article:
“Fliedner, the lead prosecutor in the case, did not mention the order in court Wednesday. He did say, however, that another report by the Daily News – which claimed Liang texted his union representative right after the shooting – was false.”
Just like Esther Wang, I also feel very sorry for the innocent Akai and his family. However, Liang still needs justice. Apparently, initially Liang didn’t know anyone got hurt, that’s why he was more concerned with mis-fire itself. After he and his partner went downstair again, the moment they knew Akai was hurt, it was Liang, who called for ambulance immediately. He tried his best at that moment, right? This is a very unfortunate accident. But this is not a crime.
Penalizing Liang for a pure accident will solve all following real issues, such as:
(1) Why building stair lights were out for 3 years without fixing? But after incident, fixed quickly? Whose fault to make residents/policemen so scared at night?
[http://nypost.com/2014/11/22/tenants-live-in-fear-at-the-notorious-pink-houses/][1]
(2) Why so few black policemen? Why AA policy don’t improve black policemen percentage in police dept? Asian also still low.
(If Liang is convicted, I can guarantee you, not so many Asians will get into this career any more, because of obvious discrimination.)
(3) Why rookies assigned to the most dangerous places, carrying the most dangerous tasks?
[http://www.nycpba.org/releases/pr150210-process.html][2]
Yes. Akai needs justice. Liang also needs. And using Liang as scapegoat won’t solve the real problems!
(1) It’s a rumor that Liang texted after misfire accident:
“Fliedner, the lead prosecutor in the case, did not mention the order in court Wednesday. He did say, however, that another report by the Daily News – which claimed Liang texted his union representative right after the shooting – was false.”
(2) It’s also rumor that Liang and his partner was not assigned to vertical patrol:
http://www.nycpba.org/releases/pr150210-process.html
PBA president Patrick J. Lynch said:
“This officer deserves the same due process afforded to anyone involved in the accidental death of another. The fact that he was assigned to patrol one of the most dangerous housing projects in New York City must be considered among the circumstances of this tragic accident.”
(3) Liang didn’t know misfire hurt anyone. After he and partner went down stair again, The moment they knew Akai was hurt, it was Liang, who called for ambulance immediately.
(4) Even DA agreed Liang didn’t intend to kill anyone, why CAAAV claims it’s murder? Can’t you see the difference between accident and crime?
(5) Yes. Akai is innocent victim and needs justice. Can Liang get some justice?
But it also needs to be noted that he had his finger on the trigger, not protocol. Plus he had been instructed by his commanding officer, Miguel Iglesias, NOT to walk the stairs inside Pink Houses. Those are also key facts that need to be considered.
Except he wasn’t resisting arrest and the heart attack was related to being thrown to the ground and sat on. The neck hold that he was in is not designed to obstruct the airways. It is designed to cut off blood through the carotids to the brain, so your bit about airways not being restricted is beside the point. Furthermore, that his airways were not being restricted while his corpse was lying on the post mortem table doesn’t mean that they weren’t being restricted while the cop was illegally taking him down.
"But at its heart, this argument is deeply flawed. Rather than calling for accountability for all police officers who kill, regardless of their race, this sentiment is rooted in the belief that no officers should be held accountable for their actions.
I’m going to call it what it is—hypocrisy"
I don’t think Esther Wang knows what hypocrisy means.
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First, we shouldn’t let anyone off the hook for committing homicide; we need to ensure that people are held accountable for their actions, no matter their race, the victim’s race, what kind of office they hold, or job the perform. Creating situations where we have less accountability isn’t the answer.
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Ester Wang writes: And I hope we can develop the capacity to feel that pain as acutely as if Akai were our own brother."
We do have the capacity to feel the pain of Akai’s death as if he was our brother, but that in itself is not an argument for indicting Peter Liang.
An accidental discharge and he goes to jail? This is BS. Not only that, sending a police officer to prison is sadistic. YOU DON’T SEND A POLICE OFFICER TO PRISON TO SPEND TIME WITH PRISONERS WHO HAVE BEEN SENT THERE BY OFFICERS OF THE LAW. This is unethical and beyond cruel. If anything, he needs to be in a different facility. If officer Liang goes to prison and NYPD doesn’t do anything to stop this, then NYPD does not care for their own. The prosecutor is a malicious human being who has bloodlust. He should be convicted himself for wanting to throw a police officer into prison. Yes, Liang made a mistake, yes, he wasn’t smart for what he did, but does this merit prison time? When Liang is in jail, the noise will die down, but only temporarily. When another police officer kills someone by accident and he doesn’t got to jail, what then? And if this officer happens to be white, what then? What will that say? NYPD DISCRIMINATES. NY JUSTICE SYSTEM DISCRIMINATES.
This is not payback for what has happened to Eric Garner (remember him?). The officer who killed Garner put him in a chokehold! Big difference between a chokehold and an accidental discharge. What Peter Liang did was similar to officer Richard Neri, who accidentally shot Timothy Stansbury. Neri had his gun drawn (the decision to take a firearm out is left to the discretion of the police officer, same with officer Liang) and accidentally shot and killed Stansbury. A grand jury DECLINED to prosecute Neri because they said that the shot was fired unintentionally and Neri was STARTLED. The event was declared an accident.
WHY NOT WITH LIANG’S CASE? Why is Liang taking the heat? I will tell you why. This is discrimination. There is a lot of anti-China sentiment going on throughout the country and now it has reached the Chinese-American community. It doesn’t matter if Liang is an American citizen, an individual who does not represent China, Liang is Chinese, and that is good enough to throw anger at him. There is a lot of talk about Chinese-Americans being the model minority, a term cleverly coined by white racists who want to create divisions among colored minorities, but the fact is, everyone is a model minority, everyone contributes to the American society. It should never be based on income or class status or the color of your skin. Everyone contributes. Let’s not let resentment, created by wealth, divide people of color.
I am also very happy to know that there are a lot of people, white and black, who see the injustice of this verdict. They know that Liang is a victim of discrimination. They stand behind officer Liang. Officer Liang’s conviction is not a solution, but a mask to hide a symptom that is plaguing the nation still.
IF YOU WANT REAL JUSTICE, then treat officer Liang like officer Neri, and bring Daniel Pantaleo to justice. Then justice will be served.
Officer Liang is a victim of discrimination, there is no way around it. You can spin it a million ways, but it will all come down to that same nasty road: DISCRIMINATION. Yeah, people are sick to death of hearing the word discrimination. Well, put yourself into Liang’s shoes and see how you feel about it.
I feel for the victim’s family. And it is not fair. But this is not Fruitvale Station where the victim was thrown to the ground and handcuffed and then got shot in the back. This was a dumb mistake made by an inexperienced Asian rookie. Had he been white, the charges would have been dropped. If anything, Daniel Pantaleo and Justin Damico, should be found guilty for killing Eric Garner. Jiang is the wrong cop to set an example of. Pantaleo was already the subject of two civil rights lawsuits. In one of the cases, he and other officers ordered two black men to strip naked on the street for a search and the charges against the officers were dismissed.
“As a community, we can’t have it both ways. We can’t call for justice when an Asian person is harassed, targeted or killed by the police and then act to protect an Asian police officer when they’re the ones who’ve killed.”
While I agree with the sentiment, the fact is that Asian-Americans have had it NEITHER way. We need to rally for fair and equal treatment, bottom line.
@Esther Wang: I agree that we should not rally around Peter Liang in order to free him because based on the evidence presented in court he is guilty. But we can all see that Liang is also being scapegoated because out of the many recent high-profile cases involving a police officer shooting an unarmed black civilian, only Liang was convicted.
How do we deal with this racial inequality? As Asian Americans if we are silent, then we will continue to be bullied. So, I ask: how do we address the problem of racial scapegoating?
That was proven false.
he is a rookie. it was an accident, not intentional.
It was an accident, not intentional! NYPD and the DA betrayed a rookie police officer! This writer and her organization betrayed police officers and Asian American community! All for their political gain.
Peter Liang should be convicted. Regardless, if it was an accident, it does not change the fact that he killed a man. It does not change the fact a little girl lost his father and a family lost a loved one. Peter Liang should not walk away from this scot-free.
What makes me angry is equality and fairness in the system. Why only Peter Liang, and I think that is what most Chinese-American are angered about. Many including myself believe Peter Liang, was used as a scapegoat. It’s hard not to compare this to Daniel Pantaleo, the officer that killed Eric Garner.
Both men are police officers, they both killed a man. Both was unintentional, and was claimed as an accident. One was white, one was Chinese. But then why was one convicted, and one was not? Why was Daniel Pantaleo not convicted, why was he even able to keep his job?
Why was Peter Liang the only one charged for his crime, and only letting Daniel Pantaleo walk free? I’m NOT saying to let Peter Liang walk free too, what I’m saying is to put punishment on ALL cops, regardless.
The Chinese-American protesters and groups such as Black Lives Matter relationship are in bad standing. Instead of hating each other, the only way to solve this lack of fairness, is to work together. That means, not siding with the Chinese, or the Black, or the White. It’s siding with everyone. ALL LIVES MATTER.
What I believe is, that we have to stand together, and not side with just one side, and NOT just because I’m black, I need to side with the black or I’m Chinese so I need to side with the Chinese. If that is so, racism and lack of equality will never end.
If both committed a crime, both should be convicted, that is true equality and justice.