The NYPD officer who shot and killed unarmed Ramarley Graham five years ago is off the force, but the dead teen's mother said it's not justice.
Constance Malcolm said she got a call from her attorney Sunday night saying the NYPD judge presiding over the departmental trial of Officer Richard Haste had found him guilty of misconduct in the 2012 shooting and recommended termination. But then she learned that the decision was reached two days earlier — and Haste had already resigned instead of being fired.
At a press conference outside police headquarters Monday, she and police reform activists called for other officers involved in the shooting to be fired and said they’ll oppose Mayor Bill de Blasio’s bid for re-election.
“This was a perfect case to show us that our young men and women matter when they've been killed unjustly by police, but instead you took the easy way out by letting this man resign,” Malcolm said.
A spokesman for the Mayor said union employees have a right to due process.
“In this case, that process allows the defendant time to respond to a departmental verdict before a formal penalty can be imposed,” First Deputy Press Secretary Austin Finan wrote in an email to WNYC. “While the New York City Police Department aggressively — and publicly — sought Richard Haste’s termination from the force, he resigned upon learning the findings of his disciplinary trial and the trial commissioner’s recommended penalty.”
“At the end of the day, the process ultimately worked: Mr. Haste is no longer a police officer,” Finan wrote.
Haste, who was on the force for nearly nine years, is not eligible for a pension.