White US cop on trial for killing Jamaican youth
NEW YORK, United States (CMC) — The long-awaited departmental trial of a white New York police officer accused of killing an 18-year-old Jamaican youth is due to begin on Tuesday at New York Police Department (NYPD) headquarters in lower Manhattan.
Richard Haste faces the loss of his job if found guilty at the end of the trial for killing Ramarley Graham in 2012. Haste remains stripped of his gun and shield, and is on desk duty with full pay.
Graham was unarmed when Haste shot and killed him on February 2, 2012, in front of his grandmother and little brother after Haste chased the teen into his home during a drug bust.
The NYPD alleges Haste “exercised poor tactical judgment leading up to the discharge of his firearm” and “acted with intent to cause serious physical injury leading to the death” of Graham, according to the New York Daily News.
It said Haste faces penalties ranging from a reprimand to lost vacation days to termination.
Graham’s Jamaican-born mother, Constance Malcolm, told reporters that she met with NYPD lawyers on January 9 to press them again for information on the case.
“She said they told her nothing — not even what specific charges he was facing or anything about his prior record as a police officer, citing a state confidentiality law,” the Daily News said.
“They were hiding behind that,” it quoted Malcolm as saying, adding “that doesn’t make sense because [Mayor Bill] de Blasio talked about transparency.