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Photograph of NYPD Community Affairs officer, left, Edwards Gibbs, founder of Harlem United Clergy for Change, second from left, and others gathering outside the police station where officer Omar J. Edwards worked in the East Harlem by Tina Fineberg/AP
The family of Omar Edwards, the rookie off-duty police officer who was shot by a fellow cop in Harlem on Thursday night, were grieving yesterday. A family friend told the Daily News that Edwards' mother said, "My son is dead, my son is dead. They killed my son." The friend also said Edwards' wife Danielle is "in pieces right now....For the sake of the kids, the family is trying to remain strong." The Reverend Al Sharpton, who has already called for a federal investigation of the shooting, is holding a vigil and rally in Harlem this morning.
Omar Edwards, holding son Xavier, with wife Danielle holding baby Keanua
A group of on-duty anti-crime police officers, in an unmarked car, came upon the chase on 125th Street between First and Second Avenues. Apparently officers yelled at Edwards to drop his gun—Santiago heard a cop say, "Police, drop your gun" and other officers heard Officer Andrew Dunton say, "Police! Stop, drop the gun! Drop the gun."
The NY Times reports, "Officer Edwards turned, and the nose of his Smith & Wesson pistol turned with him, toward Officer Dunton. From behind the unmarked car’s door, where he had taken cover, Officer Dunton fired his gun from a distance of 15 feet; he later handcuffed Officer Edwards, as policy dictated." It's unclear whether Edwards identified himself as a cop; it was only when other responding cops arrived, after opening Edwards' shirt and finding his Police Academy t-shirt and his badge, that they realized another cop was shot.
According to the Post, "Edwards may have violated NYPD guidelines on how to handle confrontations with police when in plainclothes by not giving up his pursuit and surrendering." The Post also says the NYPD "immediately ordered all officers to undergo confrontation training" and that "Dunton and his two colleagues were assigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of the investigation." It's likely the shooting will be presented to a grand jury.
Dunton, 30, is a four-year veteran, who is reportedly "devastated" about the shooting. A police source told the Post, "He is heartbroken, distraught and upset. He sent his condolences [to Edwards' family] saying how sorry he was. He's devastated because he left behind a family without a father."
Edwards was 25 and leaves behind a wife and two young children. His father said his son dreamed of being a police officer, "When he was a small boy, he would go over to the 71st Precinct just to be around the police... He fell in love with the NYPD from the very beginning -- all his life he loved the police."
The Daily News' Errol Louis has a column today, titled, "You never read this headline: 'Black cop shoots white cop'": "Many will assume that the killing of Officer Omar Edwards was the result of a tragic but honest mistake, an accident with no malice or racial bias at work. That would be a reasonable conclusion - and a dead wrong one." A Post editorial cautions against looking at the incident through "race-colored glasses," but does write, "Benefit of the doubt in these cases -- at least initially -- should almost always go to the firing officer, who needs to make a life-or-death decision in little more than a split second...Yet the NYPD has strict guidelines both for the use of deadly force and for confrontations between officers when at least one is in civilian clothing. Department investigators need to find out whether those were followed -- and if not, why not."
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I guess trigger happy cop karma finally comes around.....
A white cop from a redneck town in LI who most likely did not follow departmental protocol and shoots a black man in the back? Hey, at least he apologized...
The article is saying that the victim most likely did not follow police protocol, not the shooter.
one reason is the victim is dead.
It's tough to see those pictures of edwards's family. My heart goes out to them.
why didn't the other 2 anti-crime cops shoot.
I thought in the heat of gun fire, when one cop shoots, they all shoot.
here we have 2 guys who wanted to become cops since they were young. one from bed stuy with a father who's a cop and one from Medford, LI.
the news mentioned dunton had 100 arrests and anti-crime is usually a stepping stone to choice assignments. is he too gung ho rambo from the burbs?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/shoottokill-policy-dropped-after-menezes-killing-1063733.html
Let's work to end the shoot to kill policy in NYC
Not going to happen. Not even going to come up in fact. It's the policy within every city police department, and most others, in the US. No one seriously questions that it's the best policy, the approach that's safest both for civilian bystanders and other cops. Sure, it's a dangerous policy for anyone running around in the street with a handgun, but that's a tradeoff worth making.
The fact that policy is different in the UK -- where most cops don't even routinely carry guns -- is completely irrelevant. Few criminals even have guns there. The policy you're comparing to, in fact, applied only to stopping suicide bombers, not street crime.
Again, irrelevant.
Seriously you're wasting your time bringing this up for a second time. It's not going to become a debate, no matter how often you post it on Gothamist.
perhaps per our own opinion the shoot to kill policy is the best method but as the link demonstrate it is best for the police but not for civilians. This Policy suits the PBA but not the civilians and I am not the only one who questions this policy.The fact the UK doesn't use a shoot to kill policy towards suicide bombers yet NYC uses this policy towards civilians is a shame.