Family of teen killed by police demands officers be fired
NEW YORK -- The mother of an unarmed black teenager fatally shot by a white policeman in front of his grandmother and 6-year-old brother joined supporters Thursday for a 17-mile march to police headquarters to demand that the officers involved in the February 2012 slaying be fired.
"It's been four long years but I'm not willing to give up yet," said Constance Malcolm, the mother of Ramarley Graham.
About 30 people started a daylong walk from the three-story Bronx building where Graham was shot toward police headquarters in lower Manhattan. They chanted, "Whose streets? Our streets!" and "No justice? No peace!" as passing drivers honked in support.
Graham was 18 when he was shot once, while in the bathroom of his Bronx home, by an officer who had barged inside during a drug investigation.
The officer who shot Graham, Richard Haste, has said in a court filing that he fired because he believed Graham was reaching for a gun. No weapon was ever found.
Authorities previously said Graham had at least two prior arrests for marijuana and burglary.
Haste was initially indicted in the Bronx on a state manslaughter charge, but a judge dismissed the case after determining that prosecutors had improperly instructed grand jurors. A new grand jury cleared the officer.
Federal prosecutors said in March that they would not file civil rights charges against Haste, eliminating any chance that he would face criminal charges.
The family settled a lawsuit against the city for $3.9 million last year.
Haste was stripped of his badge and gun after the shooting, but officials said an internal disciplinary proceeding against him had been on hold pending the outcome of the federal investigation. The disciplinary proceedings are now underway.
But Malcolm claims there were over 12 officers involved -- and she wants all of them fired, reports CBS New York.
"These officers murdered a young man who didn't commit a crime, he didn't do anything wrong. All he was doing was going home and he's dead," the teen's mother told the station. "They need to be off the force."
Marchers say they want to put pressure on Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to take action.
"Someone must be held accountable," said City Councilman Andy King, a Bronx Democrat. "Justice will be served or someone must be held accountable."
Haste's lawyer, Stuart London, has said there were "never any winners in this case."
The Graham shooting had been cited during recent demonstrations against police violence after grand juries in Missouri and New York declined to indict police officers in the deaths of 18-year-old Michael Brown and 43-year-old Eric Garner. The deaths fueled a national conversation about policing and race.