Grand Jury Refuses To Indict NYPD Cop Who Fatally Shot Ramarley Graham

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/grand_jury_refuses_ramarley_indict_hIYh1kFJ9kfbNOQmR1N5pI



A Bronx grand jury yesterday refused to indict an NYPD cop who fatally shot a teenager in his Wakefield home, law enforcement sources said.

Officer Richard Haste and other undercover cops chased Ramarley Graham, 18, into his home in February 2012.

The teen was flushing marijuana down the drain when Haste, believing he was carrying a gun, shot him.

He was initially indicted on a manslaughter charge, but a Bronx judge tossed that indictment last May after ruling that a prosecutor from the Bronx DA’s office wrongly instructed the grand jury to disregard whether other cops had told Haste the teen was armed.

Haste testified before the grand jury Tuesday, the day before they chose not to indict him.



Graham’s mother, Constance Malcolm of East 229th Street, was heartsick last night.

“My son is dead and this man is walking free,” she told The Post after posting an angry message on her Facebook page calling Haste a “murderer.”

But fellow cops applauded the decision.

“Based on information given by other police officers, Officer Haste felt his life was in danger. If that evidence would have been presented properly to the grand jury, he never would have been indicted in the first place,” said Joseph Anthony, a Bronx PBA trustee.

 

No big surprise. Reminds me of the DJ Henry case.

 

It's difficult to secure enough evidence to criminally charge a police officer. I saw the video clip and understand this can happen to anyone.

One of the problems with gathering an actual timeline of events inside the house is the testimony of the cops present. It's human nature at times to defend someone you consider a "brother". It's also human nature if you are NYPD to stick up for a fellow police officer even if it means lying or tampering with a crime scene. I am not saying the above occurred however I will not rule it out.

If the DA's Office had enough evidence they would not need a grand jury. It's nearly impossible to gather enough evidence to rule a shoot bad.

Criminal Justice 101, a police officer can enter a home, etc with probable cause. A cop can simply make up any legal excuse to establish probable cause and his / her testimony will not be challenged in court. Law enforcement for decades have been setting different legal precedents. Using deadly force is a widely debated precedent that almost always will be on the side of law enforcement.

This is one of those underlined advantages police officers have over civilians.

I've been around that area years ago. This story is sad.

 

A whole other world in NYC. You can just straight up murder a guy and not go to trial. Even trayvon had that much.

 

The Zimmerman trial and this specific one are different. Zimmerman is not a cop. However, carried a fireman posing as a "watchman". Zimmerman had no legal cause to follow anyone and was shielded from a guilty verdict by the "stand your ground" culture of self-defense laws in conservative states.

 

and yet you manage to skip over the fact that both of these gentleman killed a person. One of which had a trial and another never had one.

 

Why was this cop so frantic??

The kid was in the apartment, where was he gonna go?? Jump out the window??

I hate that so many cops are in freak-out mode when they are really in complete control of the situation; stay calm and tell that kid to come out with his hands up because he doesn't want a cop to come into his home with his gun drawn.

This could have gone down in entirely different way that didn't involve smoking some kid.

If this had happened in Westchester County to some upper middle class kid some cop had chased into his own home, no way would he have been acquitted of murder/manslaughter because the PO thought the suspect may have had a gun.:smt026

Only in the inner city is a cop allowed to execute a teen in his own home over some flimsy circumstantial bullshit non-evidence.

Tell that kid to come the fuck OUT OF THE APARTMENT, and wait until he does.

All for dealing some weed.
This country.:smt120

 

You been to my area? I will say this there have been unsolved and never prosecuted cases involving middle class black people in my area. One that comes to mind is Kenneth Chamberlain, his son was at the TM protest I attended last month
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/n...hite-plains-police-raises-questions.html?_r=0

Also there was a college kid from Pace University that got killed by cops. His situation was a little different since the cops supposedly felt threatened because he allegedly tried to drive into one of them. Doesn't really sound like the actions of a college kid but both cases weren't prosecuted and both in Westchester.

 

There are plenty of cases just like this in LA that have been going out, and yet they did not get national media attention the way Trayvon got killed. I am actually convinced if not for national media attention, and the actions of the mother with online activism Zimmerman would have never stood trial. In fact I was once walking by myself at night in my own neighborhood, and cops shined their lights on me, and asked to see my hands no joke. This happened 2 years ago when i was 19. Suppose I was a dumb ass with little respect for authority like a lot of people my age? Suppose I ran away, and told the cops to go fuck themselves, and didn't cooperate? Could I have been killed that night with the cops considered "justified?"


However I was a person with common sense, and immediately raised up my hands so the cops could see I was unarmed. Then the cops turned off their light, and drove away. LAPD "To Protect, and Serve" my ass.

 

I still have a pathological paranoia towards cops. Can't help it.

 

It's that chase instinct. Run from a dog, you're gonna get bit.

You know like how they advise if you ever come across a bear in the woods, the worst thing you can do is turn and run.

The bigger criminals are the nameless scum who let this guy off.

I gotta add though: if you're dealing weed, and you can't afford the relatively light penalties for small amounts, you're in the wrong business. Not worth it to run and add that charge (and the chaos) to the mix.

 

I had been stopped by police so many times, they came to know me quite well because all I ever did was ask if they wanted to see my identification. That action lessened a lot of tension. I wanted to cooperate because they had the right of reasonable suspicion. This happened when I lived in Lake City, Florida. Sometimes they stopped me because I was not wearing reflective clothing(I walked or rode my bike at night). It is a legitimate concern and they were looking out for me.