Ramarley Graham / myspace.com
This is just another case of certain rouge cops on the New York City Police force overstepping their boundaries in attempting to make an arrest. The video below should serve as a reminder that police brutality is alive in this country.
The shooting case of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham has taken a new turn after video was released showing NYPD officers kicking down the door of the home of Graham’s grandmother in the Wakefield section of the Bronx. The video, which Hip-Hop Enquirer warns is intense, shows Graham entering his home calmly last Thursday with NYPD officers rushing the door behind and then proceeding to kick the door down without a search warrant.
Graham, 18, was chased by Haste and Sgt. Scott Morris into his parents’ Williamsbridge apartment on Feb. 2 and shot dead in the bathroom.
Both cops been taken off the street and given administrative duties. A spokesman for the Graham family said that Kelly’s review does not go far enough.
“It’s important that the NYPD allows the Department of Justice to conduct an independent investigation,” said Vernon Williams. At a community precinct council meeting Wednesday night, Graham’s mother called for criminal charges to be filed against the cops.
“The police [officer] is still working,” said Constance Malcolm, the teen’s mother. “They only put him on desk duty; he should have been charged. They just want to see all these black kids off the streets. Justice is going to be done for this one.”
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Since Thursday, NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly named 30-year old officer Richard Haste as the shooter in the case, saying that Haste shouted to Graham to show his hands and offer up a gun before shooting the teen in the chest inside a bathroom in the home. Kelly has placed Haste, a three-year veteran, and Sgt. Scott Morris, also present on the scene, on desk duty pending investigation. Last night, Kelly called for an immediate review of their narcotics task force however the family says this type of review does not go far enough and they want the officers responsible to be charged criminally for what they did. According to a NYPD spokesperson, Officer Haste didn’t
Rev. Al Sharpton is helping to raise funds for Graham’s funeral and also to help assist helping the teen’s grandfather arrive to the States from Jamaica for the service. Sharpton spoke openly of the case over the weekend.
“Why would you break in a house and shoot a young man and kill him?” Rev. Al Sharpton said on Saturday. “You cannot get to a conclusion without starting with the premise. The premise is wrong. They had no business breaking in the house.”
Graham’s tragic end is reminiscent of the Bronx shooting death of Amadou Diallo over a decade ago, which similarly galvanized minority communities in the Bronx against police. In that incident, police followed Mr. Diallo into the lobby of his Bronx apartment building and was shot 44 times by narcotics officers who claimed at the time that they saw him reaching for a gun. It was later determined that Mr. Diallo was only reaching for his wallet when he was gunned down. The police in that case was acquitted of all charges which sent shock waves in the community.
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Source: Hiphopwired.com
