Officers never get indicted? NYPD Officer Indicted In Death Of Akai Gurley

[Shadowy Man]

Unless it's one of those flashlights that mounts to the top of a gun, I am unclear as to how one actually holds a gun and a flashlight at the same time in one hand.

On top of? That would keep you from aiming the gun unless you also had a laser sight. The only ones I've seen were under the barrel.

Yes, you are correct. I can picture the ones below the barrel.

I have since read that he had the gun in one hand and the flashlight in another.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

On top of? That would keep you from aiming the gun unless you also had a laser sight. The only ones I've seen were under the barrel.

I have scopes for my rifles that mount on top, but have a "pass through" arch between the barrel and scope to leave the "iron sights" unobstructed... no reason a flashlight couldn't be mounted exactly the same way.

That doesn't sound like a good idea on a handgun, though.

 

[Malintent]

I have scopes for my rifles that mount on top, but have a "pass through" arch between the barrel and scope to leave the "iron sights" unobstructed... no reason a flashlight couldn't be mounted exactly the same way.

On a handgun? I would think you'd want as clear a view as possible, not just "unobstructed iron sights".

I have no legal experience with handguns that I can speak of... just rifles.. so you might be right... but I fail to see the difference between looking down the sights of a long barrel versus a short barrel... one could argue that the longer the barrel, the more narrow a window of "clear view" one would have.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

On a handgun? I would think you'd want as clear a view as possible, not just "unobstructed iron sights".

I have no legal experience with handguns that I can speak of... just rifles.. so you might be right... but I fail to see the difference between looking down the sights of a long barrel versus a short barrel... one could argue that the longer the barrel, the more narrow a window of "clear view" one would have.

The difference is the nature of your target. With a rifle you're aiming carefully at something in a narrow field of view. A scope won't stop you from using iron sights in that case. With a handgun you're normally aiming at something nearby--you need a wider field of view to see it.

 

[Sarpedon]

Its annoying that we have to treat an indictment as a victory. It shows we've given up on the trial itself.

I personally, would be creeped out by police routinely wandering up and down the stairs of my apartment building with their guns drawn. Of course, as a white guy, I've never been subjected to such nightmarish tactics. When I lived in a huge apartment tower, I used to run up and down the stairs for exercise, sometimes in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. I guess that would have gotten me shot in this guy's neighborhood. I never cease to be amazed and revolted by what we do to each other.

 

[ApostateAbe]

If the claim is that the police never get indicted, then cases like this prove otherwise. Maybe there are a few people who make that claim, but it is not so common. The more relevant claim is that the justice system systematically favors cops, and for that claim there are no anecdotes that prove it wrong, and in fact it should be commonly accepted by all sides that the justice system really does systematically favor cops, as cops have jobs that put them in dangerous situations, where a human mistake can cost a life.

 

[bilby]

I have no legal experience with handguns that I can speak of... just rifles.. so you might be right... but I fail to see the difference between looking down the sights of a long barrel versus a short barrel... one could argue that the longer the barrel, the more narrow a window of "clear view" one would have.

The difference is the nature of your target. With a rifle you're aiming carefully at something in a narrow field of view. A scope won't stop you from using iron sights in that case. With a handgun you're normally aiming at something nearby--you need a wider field of view to see it.

Sights are pretty much useless on a handgun. If the range is sufficient that you have any chance of missing, you are out of effective range. A handgun is a short-range weapon, like a knife; not a medium or long range weapon like a shotgun or a rifle (respectively).

Only in the movies do people have high hit dates using handguns against targets at intermediate ranges. Self-loading handguns with a high rate of fire can compensate for this, but accurate aim is not a part of that compensation strategy; quite the reverse - putting ten bullets down-range allows you to get a hit despite only having a 10% hit rate per shot.

 

[ZiprHead]

As I understand, police firearms do not have separate safety mechanisms but have extremely heavy trigger pulls to prevent accidental firing.

 

[Underseer]

A New York City police officer has been indicted in the shooting death of 28-year-old Akai Gurley, law enforcement sources told both NY1 and The New York Daily News Tuesday.

A bullet fired by rookie officer Peter Liang killed Gurley on Nov. 20 inside the darkened stairwell of the Pink Houses in East New York, Brooklyn.

Although NYPD Commissioner William Bratton initially characterized the shooting as an “accidental discharge,” Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson announced in December that he was convening a grand jury to investigate Gurley’s death.

A spokesperson for district attorney Thompson on Tuesday declined to confirm the indictment to The Huffington Post, saying the office was “precluded by grand jury secrecy.” It’s unclear what charges Liang is facing in Gurley’s death.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/10/akai-gurley_n_6655536.html

1. No one claims that officers never get charged when they do things like this, mostly that they are unlikely to be charged especially if their victim is African-American.
2. Don't you find it curious that the only recent example you can find of an officer actually being charged with something like this is a non-white officer? Why do you suppose that is?

 

[ksen]

Officer Liang has opted for a jury trail.

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/201...ng-opts-for-jury-trial-killing-of-akai-gurley

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The Officer that shot the man in the back in North (South?) Carolina is to be indicted, so clearly no one ever said no officer gets indicted.

Next strawman please.