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August 17, 2016

NYC to Pay $4 Million over Police Killing of Akai Gurley
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Meanwhile, the City of New York has agreed to pay more than $4 million
to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Akai Gurley,
an unarmed African-American father who was killed by a police officer in
the stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project in 2014. New York City
police officer Peter Liang fatally shot Gurley as he was walking down
the stairwell with his girlfriend because the elevator was broken. Liang
was doing a stairwell inspection. He says he accidentally fired his gun.
Following the shooting, Officer Liang first texted his union
representative before making a radio call for help as Gurley lay dying.
A jury convicted Liang of manslaughter earlier this year, but a judge
made the rare decision to reduce Officer Liang's conviction to the
lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide, and sentenced him to 800
hours of community service. As part of the settlement, Officer Liang
will pay $25,000 to Kimberly Ballinger, the mother of Gurley's young
daughter.
Topics:Police Brutality