The family of Ramarley Graham, the unarmed teen who was fatally shot by a police officer, will be notified when a decision is reached following the departmental trial of Officer Richard Haste, an NYPD official said Wednesday.
“We have assured them once a decision is reached they will be informed,” Deputy Commissioner of the Department Advocate’s Office Kevin Richardson said, speaking at an unrelated breakfast.
The assurance comes a day after Graham’s family voiced concern over whether the Civil Rights Law Section 50-a, which protects records related to a police officer’s performance as confidential, would prevent them from learning the disciplinary actions taken against Haste.
“I don’t know what it would do to me,” Constance Malcolm, Graham’s mother, said on Tuesday about the idea of not knowing the final outcome of the departmental trial.
On Wednesday, Malcolm said the administration has used the 50-a rule as a “bogus excuse” and considered it a political move to protect officers.
“It makes no sense for O’Neill to say they’re going to be as transparent as possible,” she said in an email statement. “The Mayor and NYPD refuse to address what this was — racial profiling in a Black Bronx neighborhood leading to out-of-control cops violating many protocols by breaking into our home and murdering my son, and then officers abusing our family and trying to justify and cover-up their actions.”
Graham, 18, was killed in February 2012 after he was chased by Haste into his Bronx apartment and shot as he tried to flush marijuana down a toilet.
The departmental trial concluded earlier this week following a series of grand jury actions in state court and a federal investigation that concluded without any charges filed. Haste faces possible firing from the NYPD, but any discipline recommendation would ultimately be up to Commissioner James O’Neill to approve.
It could take several months for the deputy commissioner who presided over the case to make her recommendation to O’Neill.
With Anthony M. DeStefano
