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Ramarley Graham family delivers petitions, demands answers from US attorney

Ramarley Graham's mother Constance Malcom delivered thousands of petitions to the U.S. Department of Justice demanding full DOJ investigation into her sons death on August 20, 2014.
Ramarley Graham’s mother Constance Malcom delivered thousands of petitions to the U.S. Department of Justice demanding full DOJ investigation into her sons death on August 20, 2014. Photo Credit: Yelena Falk

The family of a Bronx teen shot and killed in his home by a cop in 2012 marched to the U.S. attorney’s office and handed off thousands of signatures , demanding the Department of Justice open a full investigation.

The U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York opened an investigation into the shooting death of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham in August 2013 after a serious of stalled grand jury actions in the Bronx.

Several people, including Graham’s mother, Constance Malcolm, handed over boxes with petitions containing more than 30,000 signatures through the glass doors of the Southern District of New York offices. Chants of “no warrant, no entry” and “DOJ: grand jury now” rang out.

“Every day you turn on the news, there’s another killing and Ramarley’s case is still sitting on the DOJ’s desk without any answers,” said his mother, Constance Malcolm. “We deserve that right to know what happened to our son.”

Graham was shot and killed after being chased by Richard Haste and other officers into his Bronx apartment where he tried to flush marijuana down a toilet. Haste has said he believed Graham was armed at the time. No weapon was recovered.

Graham’s grandmother and younger brother, who was 6 years old at the time, were home.

His father, Franclot Graham, said he feels his family has been treated as if they don’t count.

“My son has been dead for almost two and a half years — two and a half years — and I’m still waiting for our day in court,” he said. “We work and we pay our taxes. No one with authority seems to care about our son.”

The U.S. attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.