Probationary Officer Peter
Liang should have had his Glock 9-mm. pistol in its holster, unsnapped and
ready to be drawn — but not in his hand, a high-ranking police source said.
BY TINA MOORE , BEN KOCHMAN ,
STEPHEN REX BROWN
The rookie cop who shot an
unarmed Brooklyn man likely was in breach of NYPD protocol before he pulled the
trigger, a police source said.
Probationary Officer Peter
Liang should have had his Glock 9-mm. pistol in its holster, unsnapped and
ready to be drawn — but not in his hand.
“Bad tactics,” the high-ranking
police source said, adding that wasn’t Liang’s only apparent problem.
“You can teach tactics all day
every day, but you can’t teach heart. If you’re scared, no tactic in the world
is going to change what you do. If you don’t have heart, tactics aren’t going
to matter.”
He said the officer, who joined
the force last year, probably got startled when he ran into Akai Gurley, 28, in
a dark stairwell of the Pink Houses in East New York, Brooklyn, Thursday night.
“The cop probably had his
finger on the trigger and flinched,” the source said.
“He’s going to get fired.”
Meanwhile, local politicians
expressed their outrage and urged NYPD reform.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric
Adams — himself a former cop — called the tragedy “a teaching moment” for the
NYPD.
You can teach tactics all day
every day, but you can’t teach heart.
He said he urged NYPD brass to
match more rookies with vets.
He added that Liang should not
be allowed to continue working as a cop, even if he is exonerated.
“I don’t believe there is an
exoneration for taking away an innocent life,” Adams said.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said he
had met with Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson and was confident the
incident would be properly investigated.
Still, he slammed Liang.
“This death appears to me to be
unprovoked, unnecessary and unjust. And the community is sick and tired of
being sick and tired of these types of violence,” Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) said.
With Edgar Sandoval and Chelsia
Rose Marcius
