The New York City police officer who shot and killed unarmed black man has been indicted for his death.
Officer Peter Liang will likely faces charges related to killing Akai Gurley, 28, while on duty. The charges include of second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment, according to local news reports.
Gurley’s death, on Nov. 20, came in the midst of a rash of incidents in which police officers who were not black killed unarmed civilians who were, spurring the hashtag and activist movement #BlackLivesMatter.
At the time of Gurley’s death, unrest continued to percolate across the U.S. over the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., at the hands of a Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. On Dec. 3, just weeks after Gurley died, a grand jury chose not to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo for choking 43-year-old Eric Garner to death, reigniting tensions betweens citizens and police.
After shooting and killing Gurley in a stairwell in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York, Liang reportedly texted his union representative before calling for medical attention.
Liang is expected to surrender himself Wednesday.
H/T NBC New York. Illustration by Max Fleishman.