Peter Liang’s sentence in Akai Gurley stairway killing leaves divide, dismay
From the start, the case of a rookie police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man in a public housing stairwell never fit neatly into the national debate over police brutality and minorities.
And Officer Peter Liang’s sentencing this week to probation and community service — after a judge downgraded his manslaughter conviction — left dismay and questions on all sides, particularly among police accountability activists who had seen the case as a sign of progress. Liang was the first New York City officer convicted in an on-duty shooting since 2005.
“We’re never going to be satisfied if we’re looking for societal justice in a criminal prosecution,” said Peter Moskos, a John Jay College of Criminal Justice sociology professor. “The jury or the judge is not supposed to be judging society.”