A New York City police officer texted his union representative before reporting he accidentally had fatally shot an unarmed black man in a darkened Brooklyn stairwell, the New York Daily News reported on Friday.
Citing anonymous sources, the Daily News reported that rookie NYPD officer Peter Liang and his partner were unreachable for more than six-and-a-half minutes after the shooting of 28-year-old Akai Gurley on Nov. 20.
The cops’ commanding officer and an emergency operator attempted to contact them after receiving a 911 call from a neighbor but were unable to, the sources told the Daily News.
The paper reported that Liang and his partner, Shaun Landau, reported an accidental discharge when they were again reachable on their radios.
A spokesman for the union disputed the Daily News report in an email to BuzzFeed, saying none of its representatives who serve the area received a text from Liang.
A grand jury is set to review the case and decide whether to indict the officers involved. This shooting is one of several recent incidents involving NYPD officers fatally wounding black men.
On Wednesday, a grand jury in New York decided not to indict the cop who killed Eric Garner, another unarmed black man, by employing the use of a chokehold.
The Daily News said the NYPD declined to comment.
