The city has agreed to pay $2 million to the parents of an unarmed Brooklyn teen who was fatally shot by a police officer three years ago. In January 2004, police officer Richard Neri was patrolling a Brooklyn rooftop with another officer at 1AM. Around the same time the other officer had opened a door to the stairwell, Timothy Stansbury and his friends were heading upstairs, to go to a party in another building in the Louis Armstrong Houses development by crossing over the roofs. But Neri had fired his gun and Stansbury died an hour and a half later. The NY Times has a particularly evocative illustration of the circumstances of the death. more ›

The City Council questioned Police Commissioner Ray Kelly about NYPD tactics in the wake of the fatal shooting of Sean Bell. The Council was aggressive and straightforward; for instance, Councilman David Yassky said , "Too many African-American New Yorkers feel that they are at risk or that their family members are at risk of mistreatment, whether it be to be stopped without reason or to be victimized by excessive force." more ›

It's cop vs. cop in an interesting Brooklyn incident that stems from a robber attempting to steal a car. A sergeant at Brooklyn's 78st Precinct accused three officers of assaulting a man suspected of stealing a car belonging to one of the officers. The Daily News says that Sergeant Greg Abrahams and officers Mark Zajac and Chris Kirch were off-duty when they saw a man trying to steal Abrahams's car, parked in front of 11 Lincoln Place in Park Slope.

The suspect was sitting in the car and had ripped out the front console, sources said. more ›

Every Mother's Son will air this August on PBS's P.O.V. Watch the trailer here. And filmmakers Tami Gold and Kelly Anderson have been making this film for the past few years. more ›

The NY Times on patrolling rooftops of housing projects. more ›