Results tagged “friendlyfire”

The Rev. Al Sharpton will hold a vigil tonight outside police headquarters to support the families of men killed by police, including recent victims Omar Edwards and Shem Walker, as well as Sean Bell, who was killed outside his bachelor party at a Queens strip club in 2006. Sharpton's National Action Network is organizing the vigil. Walker, the most recent victim, was an army veteran who was killed by an undercover cop during a drug sting in Clinton Hill; NYPD sources say the cop had earphones in to keep in touch with his team and didn't hear Walker's demand that he get off his stoop. Cops say Walker kicked the officer in the head and grabbed for his gun in the ensuing scuffle; witnesses insist the cop never identified himself. And in May, Edwards, an officer himself, was killed while chasing a man who had broken into his car. Earlier this month a grand jury declined to indict the officer who fatally shot him.

Black leaders expressed frustration yesterday after a grand jury voted not to indict Officer Andrew Dunton in the fatal "friendly fire" shooting of fellow Officer Omar Edwards one rainy night in Harlem at the end of May. The Black Law Enforcement Alliance called the decision "disturbingly predictable," and demanded that investigations of police shootings be independent of the Police Department and the district attorney’s office: "The relationship between the police and the local prosecutors is incestuous and threatens public confidence in the integrity of the process."

The mother of the undercover police officer who was shot by a fellow officer in East Harlem in May has expressed how displeased she is with the handling of the case. Natalia Harding, mother of the late Officer Omar Edwards, has rekindled discussion over the incident in which her son, a black officer in plainclothes, was fatally shot by Officer Andrew Dunton, a white cop chasing on foot. Harding said, "If this was Omar Edwards who shot -- whatever his name is — Dunton, Omar Edwards would be sitting in jail right now waiting to be tried for murder. I would like to see him go to jail. He is going to go out and do the same thing again."

A former NYPD narcotics officer who was shot in the back by a fellow cop during a drug bust eleven years ago has agreed to a $3.25 million settlement with the city, far less than the $31 million he originally sought. It's better than nothing, but Dexter Brown, who takes steroids every day just to get out of bed and needs a cane to walk, is, understandably, still pissed about the shooting—especially since the NYPD has not admitted any wrongdoing nor disciplined the cop who pulled the trigger: Detective Luis Lopez, who is still on the force.

As part of the ongoing response to help prevent a friendly fire shooting like the one that killed Omar Edwards last week, yesterday the NYPD announced that they were in the early stages of developing a "smart gun," one that would include radio transmitters to alert cops of nearby weapons on other officers. The announcement came a week before the department was meeting with the lab working to develop the weapon. Only there was one problem—scientists attending next week's meeting were about to tell the NYPD that the gun is off the table. A lab spokesman told the Post, "Even if we had the funding to try to develop this, we wouldn't. There are so many limitations, it's not a good use of technology dollars." Still NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said that the technology is something the department would like to work towards, telling the paper, "It's something that doesn't exist today. It's something that is not developed but we are talking to people to see if there is a possibility of this in the future." The Post says that the department had already sent outlines of the smart gun plans to politicians before learning the idea was dead.

Yesterday, Governor Paterson announced that he will convene a state panel to investigate the "friendly fire" shooting that left an off-duty police officer dead after being fired upon by another cop. Paterson said, "We don't want to see this happen to any police officer of any color ever again. We want to try to put in protocols that prevent the shooting of police officers on or off duty who are trying to apprehend criminals."

Yesterday, Danielle Edwards, widow of the off-duty cop Omar Edwards who was killed in a police "friendly fire" incident last week, was among the hundreds of mourners at the Woodward Funeral Home for her husband's wake. The Daily News said she sat in the third row with her two young sons, "the grief of lost love [was] etched on her face," and the NY Times noticed how "two drawings from his toddler son — jagged scribbles on plain white paper — were clipped together and placed on the satiny white interior of the casket, near a gold plaque that read 'Omar J. Edwards, 1984-2009.'" Leonid Timoshenko, whose police officer son Russel was killed during a 2007 traffic stop, paid his respects, telling the Post, "We're united in pain." Today is the second day of Omar Edwards' wake; tomorrow is the funeral at Our Lady of Victory Church on Throop Avenue in Brooklyn. He will be buried in East Farmingdale.

       

A white cop fatally shot a black off-duty officer in plainclothes who was chasing a robbery suspect in East Harlem last night. The victim, a recently married father of a 1-year-old and 7-month-old from Brooklyn named Omar Edwards, had been an NYPD officer for two years and patrolled housing projects as part of the Housing Bureau Impact Response Team. Police sources say that when Edwards left duty and went to his car around 10:30 p.m., he found his driver's side window broken and a man inside searching for valuables. According to the Post, he called 911 before confronting the thief.

Columbia security, get that riot gear ready! Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, the pseudo-militia that patrols the border, tells the Columbia Spectator that, yes, he's up for a repeat appearance.

Tonight he plays The Living Room on Ludlow Street, as a kick off to his tour. Brooklyn Vegan has the rest of his tour dates.

Never, ever, did we want to see a Lohan collaborate on anything with a Lennon. Ever. Let's hope it ends at this trailer.

The Plug Awards are coming up next week (February 2nd @ Webster Hall). "What the hell are those?," you may be asking. Well, they're independent music awards celebrating "artists who live and flourish in the margins." And YOU can vote on everything from Album of the Year to Music Blog of the Year to Internet Radio Station of the Year. So vote now!