US grand jury to rule on fatal NYC shooting case

A US grand jury will be asked to decide whether to prosecute a New York police officer over the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man in Brooklyn.

Akai Gurley was shot in the chest after he entered the stairwell of his apartment building last month.

The decision comes days after a grand jury opted against charging a New York policeman in the chokehold death of another unarmed black man, Eric Garner.

The decision has sparked protests across the country.

The US was already facing race-related unrest over the decision not to indict a white police officer who had shot dead a young black man, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri.

In New York City on Friday, protesters briefly laid down in Macy's flagship store, at Grand Central Terminal and at an Apple store.

Hundreds streamed along Fifth Avenue and other parts of Manhattan, with banners and chants of "Black lives matter" and "I can't breathe" - a reference to the words of Eric Garner as he was being restrained by a white police officer.

In other protests on Friday:

[list=]Activists marched through central Miami, Florida, and blocked a major causeway connecting Miami to Miami Beach
Hundreds of people in Providence, Rhode Island, blocked streets and police had to stop some from walking on to Interstate 95
Crowds of protesters in New Haven, Connecticut, marched to the courthouse
Dozens of students from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, brought rush-hour traffic to a crawl and forced the city to postpone a tree lighting ceremony scheduled at Monument Square
In Minneapolis, some protesters blocked traffic by marching or lying in the middle of a highway
Protests were also held in other US cities including Chicago, Washington, Denver, and Boston. [/list]

Meanwhile, a memorial service was held for 28-year-old Akai Gurley in New York ahead of his funeral on Saturday.

At an earlier news conference, his mother tearfully demanded justice for her son.

Speaking alongside her, Kevin Powell, president of the advocacy group BK Nation, called the shooting part of a "series of modern-day lynchings".

In announcing the grand jury - a body that determines whether to bring criminal charges - Brooklyn's District Attorney Ken Thompson said it was important to conduct a full and fair investigation.

Police say Mr Gurley and his girlfriend had opened a door into the unlit stairway and an inexperienced officer on a routine patrol fired his gun.

New York Police Commissioner William Bratton called the shooting an accident. However, the medical examiner has ruled that the death is a homicide.

Civil rights leader the Reverend Al Sharpton had initially planned to speak at Mr Gurley's memorial service but later said he would pay his respects without making an address.

UN human rights experts earlier expressed "legitimate concerns" about US grand juries failing to charge the two policemen involved in the deaths of Mr Garner and Mr Brown.

In a statement, UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsak, said it was part of a broader "pattern of impunity" concerning minority victims.

Following the outcry over the Garner case, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered the city's 22,000-strong police force to be retrained in how to better communicate and remain calm when making arrests. They will also be fitted with body cameras.

US President Barack Obama welcomed the move and said "too many Americans feel deep unfairness" in how the laws were applied.

Activists have called for another march in Washington on 13 December, followed by a summit on civil rights.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30356534#

Phoenix cops kill unarmed black father, 34, after mistaking pill bottle for gun - sparking angry protests as his nine-year-old daughter tells officers: 'You did not have the right to shoot my dad'
Rumain Brisbon, 34, was killed after Phoenix police say an officer feared the suspect was armed during a struggle
He was thought to be selling drugs and after fleeing from officers, a cop mistook a pill bottle for a gun and shot him
Now his nine-year-old daughter is telling the cop he had no right to shoot her father, while also saying he will never get to see her grow up

ByChris Spargo for MailOnline
Published: 04:36 GMT, 5 December 2014 |
Updated: 17:49 GMT, 5 December 2014

The nine-year-old daughter of a black, unarmed man shot dead by a white Phoenix police officer who mistook a pill bottle for a gun is speaking out in an emotional interview.

Rumain Brisbon, 34, was killed after an officer feared the suspect was armed during a struggle.

Now his daughter Aiyana has made an emotional a plea to law enforcement across the country as she talks about how unnecessary the killing was, and how her father will never see her grow up.

'I felt like that it really didn't need to happen,' Aiyana Raines told Fox10.

'He is going to miss our birthdays and how my little sisters grow up, and how we grow up because she is the only one and I am only nine, and my sister is only 10, and my dad is not going to be here for our happy moments and our sad moments.'

As for the moment she found out that her father had been killed, little Aiyana said, 'I started crying cause I really didn't believe that my dad got killed.'

The Phoenix Police Department claim Brisbon was sitting in a Cadillac SUV on Tuesday evening and that witnesses told an officer he was selling drugs.

Police approached him and made several demands for him to show his hands, but Brisbon fled. During a scuffle, the officer - a 30-year-old male officer with seven years experience on the force - felt a pill bottle in his waistband, which he believed was a gun.

'The officer gave the suspect several commands to get on the ground but he refused to comply, yelling profanities at the officer,' the Department said in a statement. 'Fearing Brisbon had a gun in his pocket the officer fired two rounds striking Brisbon in the torso.'

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said Brisbon was carrying a vial of oxycodone pills, and that a semi-automatic handgun and a jar of marijuana were found in the SUV.

A nearby resident told The Arizona Republic that he went over to the window after hearing the shooting and saw the officer 'walking out, and he was cussing, you know, he was screaming, "F***, f***", like upset that he shot the guy'.

Sergeant Trent Crump, a Phoenix police spokesman, said at the Wednesday news conference that 'this one went bad from the standpoint of how it ended' but that they stood by the officer's actions.

'Let's be very clear,' he said. 'The officer was doing what we expect him to do, which is investigate crimes that neighbors are telling him are occurring in that part of the complex.'

Friends, including the man who had been in the SUV with Brisbon, said that the victim was simply on his way to deliver fast food to his children in the apartment block.

One witness said he did not see police officers trying to speak with Brisbon before the altercation.

'The Phoenix Police Department does not treat white people this way,' The Rev. Jarrett Maupin, who organized a march in the city on Thursday night, told KPNX. 'What that officer did was harass and accost them.'

Aiyana also has a message for the officer

'To the officer that killed my dad, let me tell you something,' she said. 'You hurt three little girls that looked up to their dad. 'I am hurting, but I have to stay strong for my dad and my little sister.'

More importantly, she wants people to know that above all else, her dad was a 'good dad' and that 'the officer did not have the right to shoot my dad or kill him'.

Marci A. Kratter, an attorney for Brisbon's family, told The Arizona Republic that witnesses disputed the official police account and that 'we intend to pursue this to the full extent of the law'.

Court documents show that Brisbon had a criminal record including burglary, DUI, narcotics, and paraphernalia related charges.

About 100 people marched to the Phoenix Police Department on Thursday evening to protest the fatal shooting, which was likened to the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York.

Both were unarmed black men who died after altercations with white police officers. Grand juries in both cities have decided not to indict the officers - sparking massive protests across the U.S.

In Cleveland, there have also been protests after a black 12-year-old boy, Tamir Rice, who was shot dead by a white rookie police officer after he mistook the boy's fake gun for a real weapon. A grand jury is deciding whether or not to pursue charges in that case.

In the protests in Phoenix on Thursday, demonstrators demanded to know the identity of the police officer who killed Brisbon. Another protest is scheduled for Friday night.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ather.html