Family of Akai Gurley planning to sue city for $50m in fatal NYPD shooting [View all]
Source: The Guardian
Family of Akai Gurley planning to sue city for $50m in fatal NYPD shooting
Nicky Woolf in New York
Thursday 29 January 2015 23.06 GMT
The family of Akai Gurley, the unarmed man shot by police in an unlit Brooklyn housing project stairwell in November 2014, have filed paperwork that begins the process of suing the city, the housing authority, the NYPD and the two officers involved in his death.
Gurley was shot in the stairwell of the Louis H Pink houses in East New York, Brooklyn, by officer Peter Liang. Liang and his partner, Shaun Landau, who were both rookie officers, were conducting a routine patrol of the block when they encountered Gurley in the stairwell.
The case added to heightened tensions across the US over police brutality, after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the death of Eric Garner in Staten Island earlier that year.
On Thursday, lawyers representing the family filed a notice of claim with the city comptrollers office, the first step toward a lawsuit. The city can now choose whether to opt for a hearing, or move straight to the lawsuit. A separate notice was filed against the housing authority.
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http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/29/akai-gurley-nypd-lawsuit-fatal-shooting