article by Niraj Chokshi via nytimes.com
New York City has agreed to pay more than $4 million to the family of Akai Gurley, the unarmed man killed in a Brooklyn housing project in 2014 by a police officer on patrol, according to a lawyer for Mr. Gurley’s family.
The city will pay the bulk of the settlement, $4.1 million, said Scott Rynecki, who represents Mr. Gurley’s domestic partner, Kimberly Ballinger, and their 4-year-old daughter, Akaila Gurley. The New York City Housing Authority will pay an additional $400,000, and the officer, Peter Liang, will pay $25,000, Mr. Rynecki said.
The settlement, reported by The Daily News, was finalized on Monday afternoon by Justice Dawn M. Jimenez-Salta of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, after two months of negotiations. Efforts to reach a lawyer for Mr. Liang and the city’s Law Department late Monday were unsuccessful.
Mr. Gurley was killed on Nov. 20, 2014, by a ricocheting bullet fired by Mr. Liang, who was on a night patrol in a dark stairwell in the Louis H. Pink Houses in the East New York neighborhood.
To read full article, go to: nytimes.com/2016/08/16/nyregion/new-york-city-to-pay-4-1-million-to-family-of-akai-gurley.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=1&referer=https://t.co/SpMejO12oM
I know the money can never ease the family’s suffering, but I do hope it eases their day-to-day lives in meaningful ways, so that they can devote time and energy to healing their broken hearts and wounded spirits. I’m glad to see that New York had to bear some (I hope) painful fiscal responsibility for killing this man. I hope that the officials and individuals involved bear a strong sense of moral responsibility as well.