New York, NY —

A police officer has pleaded not guilty in the shooting death of an unarmed man in the Bronx last spring. Officer Raphael Lora told a grand jury he tried to stop an inebriated Fermin Arzu from leaving the scene of a car accident, and fired in self-defense when he feared he would be pulled under the car as Arzu drove away.

REPORTER: But Bronx DA Robert Johnson says the grand jury rejected that story.

JOHNSON: Ultimately this office issued that this tragic death of Fermin Arzu, a working man, was unnecessary, unjustified and therefore illegal.

REPORTER: Lora's defense attorney Stewart London says his client is only guilty of trying to protect his neighborhood. Lora was released on 50-thousand dollars bond. If convicted, he faces up to 25-years in jail. No trial date has been set.