New York City to pay $4.1 million settlement in the police killing of Akai Gurley

(Facebook)

New York City has agreed to pay $4.1 million to the family of Akai Gurley, an unarmed man who was fatally shot by a police officer in the stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project back in 2014.

The city will pay the majority of the settlement while the New York City Housing Authority will pay up $400,000. Former police officer Peter Liang will pay $25,000 out of pocket, The New York Daily News reports.

Mr Gurley, 28, was struck and killed by a ricocheting bullet fired by Mr Liang, Chinese-American rookie police officer, on November 20, 2014. Mr Liang, 28, was convicted of manslaughter in February of this year and fired by the New York Police Department. However, in April, Mr Liang’s conviction was reduced to criminally negligent homicide, and he was sentenced to five years probation with 800 hours of community service.

“Obviously, we’re pleased with the results,” Scott Rynecki, the Gurley family lawyer, told The New York Post. “At this point, we’re hoping that the new incoming police commissioner, James O’Neill, will take this opportunity to review the policy and training that takes place at the academy, as well as the procedure of allowing two rookies to go on patrol together.”

After the single shot rang out, Mr Liang and his partner Shaun Landau debated who would report the shooting as Mr Gurley bled out in the stairwell of the Louis H Pink Houses. Mr Landau testified that his partner seemed more concerned with his losing his job than the bullet lodged n the left side of Mr Gurley’s chest.

“I hear a shot go off. I heard footsteps, sounded like running,” Mr Landau said in court. “I was in shock, the gun just fired out of nowhere. He said it went off by accident. He said ‘I’m fired.’”

Reports that Mr Liang was texting his union representative instead of calling an ambulance or performing CPR also fueled outrage in the case.

Activists drew parallels to the recent police killings of unarmed black people across the country and raised concerns with policing tactics used in housing projects. But the case also frustrated activists within the Chinese-American community who cited the notably absent support of the NYPD police union, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.

"There are many within the Asian-American community, for example, who believe that Liang deserved to be convicted of manslaughter," Jay Caspian Kang writes for The New York Times, "but who also wonder why it was the Asian cop, among many other equally deserving officers, who took the fall."