2 officers who shot Brooklyn teen reportedly faced lawsuits

  Eyewitness News

NEW YORK -- Two police officers who killed a 16-year-old boy in Brooklyn reportedly have a history of being sued for alleged civil rights violations. For a fifth straight night Brooklyn residents protested the deadly police shooting of a teenager as a report on the shooting was released by the NYPD earlier in the day.

The Daily News reports (http://nydn.us/XHjdZx ) that the city has paid $215,000 to settle three lawsuits against Sgt. Mourad Mourad and two against officer Jovaniel Cordova.

The officers were in Brooklyn's East Flatbush section March 9 when they tried to stop and question 16-year-old Kimani Gray on the street.

Police say the officers, who were not wearing uniforms, shot the teen after he pulled a gun.

The civil rights lawsuits were all by people who claimed they were illegally stopped and then roughed up.

A Law Department spokeswoman says the settlements were not an admission of wrongdoing.

For a fifth straight night Brooklyn residents protested the shooting as a report on the shooting was released by the NYPD earlier in the day.

About a hundred people took part in a peaceful march in East Flatbush to the spot where Gray was shot last weekend.

Kimani Gray was shot by two plainclothes officers last Saturday after he allegedly pointed a gun at them. The shooting sparked protests, violence and clashes with police that have led to dozens of arrests.

According to the report, the officeras were driving along East 52nd Street when they saw Gray, outside his best friend's birthday party, adjusting his waistband.

According to the report, the officers got out of the car, wearing their shields and identifying themselves, and that's when "Mr. Gray immediately drew a firearm and pointed it" at them.

Officers shot him seven times, including three times in the back, according to the medical examiner. A .38-caliber revolver purchased in Florida was recovered from the scene.

On Thursday, Kimani's mother Carol Gray, her head wrapped in a black scarf and her tearful eyes concealed by sunglasses, held up a photograph of her 16-year-old son and demanded answers.

The picture revealed a grinning boy wearing a blue cap and gown, his arms wrapped around his mother. It was taken the day he graduated from middle school.

"He was slaughtered," Gray told a room filled with reporters. "And I want to know why."

The shooting incited long-simmering resentment against the police officers who patrol the streets in East Flatbush, culminating with the arrests of 46 people Wednesday night.

A police officer was also hit by a brick tossed from a building during the protest and suffered a gash in his face.

The protests Thursday night were mostly peaceful, but officers in riot gear remained in the area to keep control.

And while she doesn't condone the violent protests, Carol Gray said she wants answers. She wants to know why her son was struck by more than one bullet, and she wants to know why she will have to bury him in the coming days.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)

---

Get more New York News »

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•