New Yorkers have held a rally to protest a court decision to acquit a police officer accused of fatally shooting unarmed black man, Akai Gurley in 2014.
Gurley’s family members united with others in Brooklyn on Saturday to voice their anger at the ruling by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Denny Chun.
“It’s a dagger,” Hertencia Petersen, Gurley’s aunt, said of the sentencing. “We figured, OK, maybe we will get some type of justice, we did not get anything.”
Last month, Chun followed the no-jail recommendation of Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson in sentencing former NYPD officer Peter Liang to five years probation and 800 hours of community service for the shooting death of Gurley.
Liang was initially convicted of manslaughter, among other charges, and faced up to 15 years in prison.
However, the judge reduced his conviction to a lesser felony of criminally negligent homicide.
Chun said he agreed with Thompson’s recommendation because “as…