NY community rallies for teen shot by police
NEW YORK — The white, three-story home with red shutters and a wrought-iron fence resembles most others in the working-class Bronx neighborhood — except for the makeshift shrine out front to the 18-year-old whom police shot to death inside last week.
The sidewalk in front of 749 E. 229th St. is littered with scores of candles, photos of the teen and signs. "Stop police brutality," one sign reads. A large picture of Jesus hangs near another sign that reads: "I love you, Ramarley."
The sign refers to the teen, Ramarley Graham. Mistakenly believing he had a gun, police chased him into his second-floor home and shot him in the bathroom on Feb. 2, authorities said. His grandmother and 6-year-old brother stood nearby. A bag of marijuana was found in the toilet, suggesting Graham was trying to flush it away before the gunfire erupted.
"My son did nothing wrong," Frank Graham said at a gathering to protest his son's death. "I want justice."
Hundreds of community members in the largely Caribbean neighborhood of Williamsbridge have rallied in recent days to protest a shooting they say was horrific and unjust — and the latest in an unusual period of violent clashes between police and the public that has also wounded officers.
"Marley would help anybody on the street," his mother, Constance Malcolm, told reporters. "He would help old ladies crossing the street. He's like that. He's not a bad kid."
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly this week ordered a review of whether training and tactics are sufficient in the street narcotics division, which the officer belongs to. The division differs from full-time narcotics police, who are more specialized.
But the outcry isn't just about training — it's about treatment of the family. Graham's grandmother, Patricia Hartley, 58, a critical witness, was held for nearly seven hours after the shooting, her lawyer said. When Malcolm went to the precinct and saw her mother in an interrogation room, she tried to go inside but was dragged away by officers, according to the family's attorney, Jeffrey Emdin.
And Malcolm learned of her son's death because she overhead police using the words "homicide" when she arrived at the precinct, he said.
"Can you imagine that, that's the way you hear your son has been killed? No one has the decency to tell you to your face?" Emdin said.
Kelly has expressed sympathy for the family and said any mistreatment would be investigated.
"Obviously, it is a very, very traumatic situation for the grandmother," Kelly said last week. "She was present when this happened, and she certainly should have been shown a sensitivity to that issue."
It was third time in a week that police had fatally shot a suspect. On Jan. 26, an off-duty NYPD officer killed a carjacking suspect during a shootout in Brooklyn. And on Sunday night, an off-duty detective shot a 17-year-old after police say the teen and another suspect hit the officer with a cane and tried to rob him while he was walking to catch a subway. Neither officer was put on restricted duty.
In 2010, police shot to death eight people and injured 16, according to department figures, which were more or less steady during the three years prior.
The shooting of Graham stemmed from an NYPD investigation of street corner drug dealing, which neighbors say is a problem in the neighborhood. Officers chased Graham, believed to be an armed suspect, into his home by breaking down the door to his second-floor apartment, authorities said. They pursued him to the back bathroom, where the officer fired one shot at close range, striking Graham in the chest, Kelly said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital, and a search of the apartment failed to turn up any weapons.
The officers are on desk duty while the district attorney investigates, which is common.
"The police (officer) is still working," Malcolm said at a community meeting, according to the Daily News of New York. "They only put him on desk duty; he should have been charged. They just want to see all these black kids off the streets. Justice is going to be done for this one."
The nation's largest department also came under fire when amateur video surfaced online of another teen, 18-year-old Jateik Reed, being kicked and punched by police during his arrest. The four officers involved have also been placed on restricted duty. The Bronx district attorney's office is investigating, but Reed's lawyer is calling for a special prosecutor.
"I'm feeling all right, I just constantly have headaches," the diminutive teen said Thursday. "I constantly have nightmares."
His mother, Schuan Reed, was arrested herself when she said came out with her 4-year-old to try to stop the officers.
"I know there are good cops out there, but there are few bad apples and we have to set an example," she said. "Me as a mother — I wouldn't wish something like that on my worst enemies."
But the spate doesn't likely signify a major shift in police tactics or community relations, said Eugene O'Donnell, a professor of police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. It's horrific when officers are shot, but mistrust is bred when unarmed people are killed by police, he said.
"People can't remember the names of officers who are killed, but they remember Diallo and Bell," he said, referring to Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell, two unarmed men shot multiple times by officers. Their deaths both led to reform in the department of 35,000 officers.
"Shootings can really harm the relationship with the community, it can undermine the good work they do, so police need to be honest internally and candid externally," he said.