Killers Also Tell Lies. From [HERE] A New York police officer facing dismissal for his actions in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man in the Bronx expressed remorse at his disciplinary trial on Friday, but said his actions were justified. The hearing is an administrative proceeding. The City of New York has already paid $3.9 million to the family of Ramarley Graham, a black Bronx teenager shot to death by a white police officer in 2012. Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against any of the many white cops involved as they alternatively sought grand jury review, which declined to indict the lone officer presented to it [the original indictment was dismissed by the court due to improper instructions to jurors by prosecutors. [MORE] In photo above, on 6/14/12 racist suspect NYPD cheered for their brother at his arraignment

The officer, Richard Haste, took the witness stand on the fourth day of his administrative trial where he is accused of poor tactical judgment in the shooting of Ramarley Graham, 18, who was unarmed. Officer Haste, 35, has been on the force since 2008.

A narcotics team had a neighborhood convenience store under surveillance. Apparently, the NYPD was monitoring all the customers as they came and went to make purchases of grocery items. When Graham exited the shop with friends, white investigators reported over their radios that they thought they saw a gun in the waistband of his pants. The officers alleged that they witnessed Graham adjusting and tugging at his waistband, which they said led them to believe he was carrying a gun. The officers then began to follow Graham as he left the bodega and went into an apartment building, reporting over their radio that they saw the "butt of a gun" on the teen. They were wrong, there was no gun [a racist mind might see things that aren't there or just make things up]. The cops who allegedly saw a gun in Graham's waistband did not provide any information such as size, color or make or model of the whatever gun they believed they saw.  

The officers claimed that they approached Graham when he left the building, identifying themselves as police officers and telling him not to move. Then, the officers stated in their official report, Graham started to run from them toward his home, a claim that was later retracted by police after surveillance footage showed Graham walking, not running [see video above]. It is unclear whether Graham was aware that the officers were pursuing him when he reached his home b/c he is dead now - but he is not acting like he is in flight from a hot police pursuit when he enters his home in the video. 

On the stand, Haste recounted how he got out of his police van during a drug probe in Graham’s neighborhood and followed the teenager into his apartment. He went around and got in through a neighbor’s home, then unlocked the front door for other members of his team. They walked up the stairs tensely, watching for suspects and looking for cover. He said he saw Graham sidestep into a bathroom, and he leaned inside to face him.

On direct testimony questions from his lawyer, Stuart London, Officer Haste said that when he encountered Mr. Graham in his bathroom, he felt he had no choice but to shoot because Mr. Graham did not obey commands to show his hands and reached deeper into his pants. Inside, Mr. Graham appeared at the end of a narrow hallway. When Officer Haste directed him to stop and show his hands, Mr. Graham cursed and slipped into the bathroom, the officer said.

Officer Haste followed him. He testified that he commanded Mr. Graham to show his hands, but the teenager reached deeper into his pants, prompting the officer to fire one shot, which struck Mr. Graham in the chest.

“If he didn’t have a gun, why did he aggress toward us in that manner?” Officer Haste said. “It didn’t make sense to me.”

[Fantasy Manipulating Reality. This is a convenient narrative retold by police whenever no other eyewitness or camera is present - while it is hard to contradict it is just as difficult to independently corroborate. Many racist cops are sophisticated, masterful liars who are taught how to testify and create persuasive, detailed police reports. Mixing actual facts with nonsense sounds & looks real in court. White prosecutors and the white media are also eager and programmed to believe anything foul that cops say about Blacks. In a case involving a "missing" weapon and no video, like this one, the evidence would simply consist of a credibility contest between sworn white police officers and Graham's family members (a Black grandmother and a black child). Prediction: most likely a white judge will believe that a gun existed as claimed by NYPD at the bodega but that it was discarded by Graham- though not a single detail about the gun would be provided & no facts about him discarding it exist. In fact, go read the NY Times or other white media accounts of this incident in past week; white reporters have written their stories as if there was some actual evidence that a gun existed. Why would a cop make it up? Because they will believe it.]

“The absolute last thing that I ever wanted to do on this job was to pull the trigger on anything other than a paper target at the shooting range,” Mr. Haste said.

“He’s in front of me,” he said. “And I want to take him into custody. I want to put an end to this,” he said. Haste yelled, “Show me your hands!” but Graham instead reached deeper into his pants and yelled obscenities, Haste testified.

Haste told NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly that he yelled "Gun, Gun" prior to shooting him [see video above]. The terribly frightened white cop never saw a gun because none existed. 

After he pulled the trigger, he saw Graham’s grandmother and little brother screaming in the hallway, and a tan boot pointed up out of the bathroom door. He was ordered outside by other officers.

No gun was found, but a bag of marijuana was floating in the toilet.

Haste said he had been in similar situations more than 10 times before but had never pulled the trigger. As his testimony ended, Mr. Haste said, “I know that what I did was justified in that I protected my life and my team, based on the information we had at hand.” Referring to Mr. Graham’s death, he said, “I’m not pleased with the result.”

Sgt. Scott Morris, and Officer Haste’s partner, John Mcloughlin, also face disciplinary charges stemming from the incident. 

The next moments were riddled with bad decisions, the police prosecutors and expert witnesses said. Neither officer interviewed the tenant or searched the building. Officer Haste said he asked the tenant if a teenager lived upstairs, and the man pointed up with his index finger and nodded.

The officers, who were in plain clothes but were wearing police jackets and shields, went out of the tenant’s front door to the vestibule, where Officer Haste let in Officer Chris Crocitto, the sergeant’s driver, and Officer Mcloughlin, according to testimony.

The officers left the outside of the building unattended, prosecutors said, putting themselves at risk of a potential ambush or allowing the suspect to escape.

They went to the second floor, where Officer Haste and Officer Mcloughlin stood on opposite sides of the apartment door with their guns drawn. Sergeant Morris stood near the top of the stairwell, with Officer Crocitto behind him. Officer Mcloughlin knocked and demanded that someone open the door.

It was at the apartment door that police officials called as expert witnesses said the officers should have stopped treating the incident as a “hot pursuit,” given that Mr. Graham was behind a locked apartment door. Absent any indicators of an emergency, such as gunshots or cries for help, their responsibility was to retreat, seek cover and call for backup, the prosecutors said.

[In other words based on what information the officers actually knew at that time, 1) there was a gun described without any particulars or detailed description 2) the suspect did not run from police into the building- as video shows him slowing walking into the apartment building (so there is no consciousness of guilt - guilty people might run), 3) he gained entry with a key 4) no ongoing crime had been reported or witnessed by cops; no judge would have issued an arrest or search warrant because there was no probable cause to stop or arrest.] 

Instead, Officer Mcloughlin kicked in the door, then followed Officer Haste inside. On Wednesday, Officer Mcloughlin testified that he had breached the door because he feared a bullet could penetrate the door.

The shooting resulted from what Police Department legal advocates, who act as prosecutors in disciplinary matters, said was a series of errors by Officer Haste and his unit. At the heart of the trial is whether the officers were justified in kicking in the door of Mr. Graham’s apartment and entering.

Mr. Haste’s defense lawyers have argued that the officers acted reasonably and within department guidelines because they believed they were “in hot pursuit” of a suspect who was armed and dangerous. Such a belief must be supported with actual facts [not just racist perceptions or imaginings]. 

After the incident, Assistant district attorney Donald Levin described a scene in which Graham stared down the barrel of Haste's gun with no means to escape.

"Once this officer gained entry", Levin said, "he stood face to face with Ramarley Graham.

"Ramarley Graham was in the bathroom with absolutely nowhere to go," Levin said. "Officer Haste consciously and deliberately pulled the trigger."

He added that the case is "not about what he was told out on the street by his fellow officers", Levin said, challenging claims that Graham's death was the unfortunate consequence of bad information. [MORE]

At a news conference during a break, Mr. Graham’s mother, Constance Malcolm, accused Officer Haste of lying under oath, and said he was remorseless.

“I can’t see how this man can’t be fired, or why he should not be fired,” Ms. Malcolm said. “Richard Haste cannot be on the force and we have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

She said, “he doesn’t have any remorse, and he doesn’t look like he had any remorse,” Constance Malcom said. “Every day he comes to court he has that stupid grin on his damn face.”

“When a cop breaks into a home without a warrant, when we are not safe in our home, where are we safe?” Malcolm asked.

She described how she learned her son was dead: overhearing a cop talk about the “homicide” on E. 229th St. while she sat on a bench in the stationhouse waiting for information.

“I just froze,” she said, claiming that she heard officers laughing.

“They thought it was a joke. Just like at the arraignment,” she said, referring to cops who cheered Haste at Wednesday’s court appearance. [MORE]

Loyda Colon, the co-director of the Justice Committee, a criminal justice advocacy group, said Officer Haste had mischaracterized his encounter with Mr. Graham’s grandmother, Patricia Hartley, who complained she was mistreated after the shooting.

“Richard Haste, on the stand, actually stood there and said that he treated her kindly,” Ms. Colon said. “In fact, he actually put a gun in her head, threatened to shoot her too and shoved her.”

Mr. London, the defense lawyer, said her claims were not believable.

“I understand how upset the family is, but this case is about facts and not about people putting themselves in positions they really weren’t in,” he said. “I just know that if the police department believed her, her testimony would be very material and very relevant. And I think it’s telling that they chose not to call her as a witness.” [lol. what is white collective power?] 

Mr. Haste was the final witness; closing arguments will begin on Monday. After that, Rosemarie Maldonado, the deputy commissioner of trials, who acts as the judge, will write a report with recommendations to the police commissioner, James P. O’Neill. Both sides will have a chance to respond before Mr. O’Neill makes a final decision.

London called Haste a “hero officer who was attempting to take a weapon off the street.” [MORE]

It is unknown if the Police Department will release his decision because of the city’s broad interpretation of a state law shielding police officers’ disciplinary records from public scrutiny.