Rookie cop who shot unarmed Brooklyn man was likely in breach of NYPD protocol: police source


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