En amerikansk snut som nyligen dödat en svart 16-årig pojke med 11 skott tillsammans med sin partner, blev nyligen utsedd till "årets polis" i New York. Hedersutmärkelsen skedde samtidigt som utredningen om dödsskjutningen fortfarande pågick för fullt...
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Konstapel, Mourad Mourad, och hans polispartner var innan hedersutmärkelsen inblandad i fem olika civila rättegångar på kort tid, med stämningar mot sig mellan 2009-2012.

Rättegångarna gällde olika brott i tjänsten mot amerikanska medborgares rättigheter och olika uppgörelser i domstolarna kostade de amerikanska skattebetalarna flera miljoner kronor, till offren för den prisbelönte polisen.

Förutom detta, så pågick även en civilrättslig rättegång mot polismannen angående den senaste dödsskjutningen av 16-åringen.

Herr, Mourad Mourad, meddelade dock hastigt och lustigt några dagar före prisutdelningen att han inte kunde ta emot priset, i ett brev som istället lästes upp på prisceremonin.

*Dödsskjutningen av 16-årige Kimani Gray orsakade omfattande kravaller i Brooklyn 2013, där 100-tals människor samlades i protest och folkhopen skanderade bl.a. liknelser mellan Ku Klux Klan och New Yorks poliskår... (se artikel längre ner)
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NYC cop involved with shooting teenager almost received 'Cop of the Year' award

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RT 2014-05-12
The NYPD Muslim Officers Society has raised eyebrows after it awarded its "Cop of the Year" honors to a police officer involved in an active investigation into the killing of a local teenager.

Sgt. Mourad Mourad is under an internal investigation for the death of 16-year-old Kimani Gray, who was shot multiple times in a March 2013 confrontation with NYPD officers in Brooklyn.

According to the officers involved in the shooting, the teenager adjusted his belt "suspiciously," and after they exited their vehicle to investigate, he pointed a .357 caliber revolver at them. Both officers fired a total of 11 shots at the suspect, hitting Gray multiple times in his torso and legs. Witnesses said that Gray, who was running for his life when he was shot, did not have a gun.

Mourad was due to be honored by the NYPD Muslim Officers Society last Thursday for his active police work, the New York Daily News reported. The sergeant is an Egyptian immigrant who has been on the force for nine years. The society of Muslim members of New York’s Bravest has 600 members.

Lt. Adeel Rana, a member of the group, told the Daily News in April that the shooting doesn’t define Mourad’s career. “It is not the whole picture,” Rana said. “He’s done a lot of work taking down criminals and taking a lot of guns and drugs off the street.”

- Another police officer noted that it was not a good idea for Mourad to accept the award while the investigation is still open.

“To accept an award right now before the District Attorney’s office moves forward and closes the case would not be in the best interest of the public, the department, or in some ways [Mourad] himself,” said Sgt. Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, told the Daily News.

The Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition had urged the NYPD Muslim Officers Society to rescind its invitation, though the group declined the request.

"In light of the serious issues surrounding Sergeant Mourad, we find it unconscionable that he would be considered for an award," the MACLC letter read. "Furthermore, the Muslim community is a community that stands up for the civil rights of others and is sensitive to the plight of marginalized communities who suffer the abuses of the NYPD."

“It’s an insult to the family and the community,” former city council member Charles Barron, who is close to the Gray family, told New York’s Amsterdam News.

“- There has been a pattern in the Police Department to reward cops who killed our Black youth.”

Mourad refused the honor days before the annual awards ceremony would have taken place. He sent an official letter declining the award that was read at the ceremony, Think Progress reports.

Gray’s family filed a lawsuit in April against the NYPD, Mourad and his partner, Officer Jovaniel Cordova, who was also involved in the shooting that sparked a week of riots in the Brooklyn neighborhood. Both Mourad and Cordova were the targets of five federal lawsuits prior to the shooting, Gothamist reported at the time.

The plaintiffs in those cases alleged civil rights violations, and reportedly cost the city $215,000 in court settlements. Mourad was named in one suit in 2009 and twice in 2010, while Cordova was sued once each in 2011 and 2012.

http://rt.com/usa/158516-nypd-muslim-cop-award/

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RT 2013-03-13
Police intervened after more than 100 people joined together for a candlelit vigil in the East Flatbush neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, where 16-year-old Kimani Gray was shot multiple times by police on Saturday.

Brooklynites on Twitter reported that police followed the march and searched apartment buildings in the neighborhood without warrants, looking for children who had been seen throwing bottles at police from neighborhood rooftops.

*Officers clad in riot gear were seen along the block, and barricades were placed on the streets. March participants chanted, "NYPD / KKK / how many kids will you kill today," witnesses reported.

Police said the crowd fell the 67th Precinct station in East Flatbush, where teenagers who were not apparently a part of any organized group threw garbage and empty bottles at the windows.

"I'm in the middle of the riot action at Church and Snyder in my district. Right now, things are tense," New York City Councilman Jumaane D. Williams, who represents the area, said on Twitter. Williams said people smashed out windows and overturned garbage cans during the disorder, and that one person had been attacked outside of a local Rite Aid.

“Tonight was a peaceful vigil that devolved into a riot,” Williams wrote. “The youth in this community have no outlets for their anger, no community.”

One person is believed to have been arrested, and no injuries were reported.
Sixteen-year-old Kimani Gray was shot and killed on Saturday night after pointing a gun at two plainclothes officers who approached him, police said.

- According to the officers involved in the shooting, the teenager adjusted his belt "suspiciously," and after they exited their vehicle to investigate, he pointed a .357 caliber revolver at them. Both officers fired a total of 11 shots at the suspect, hitting Gray multiple times in his torso and legs.

His sister, Mahnefah Gray, told NY1 she doubted her brother was carrying a gun, but was rather grabbing his belt “to squeeze it” because he had a “skinny waist.”

"They thought he was grabbing back to get a gun,” she said.

“He's 16 years old. What is he pointing a gun at over six police, knowing that they would kill him? He has common sense." Witnesses said that Gray, who was running for his life when he was shot, did not have a gun.

"Stay down, or we’ll shoot you again,” police said once Gray had been hit, according to the New York Times.

"The cops, they just jumped out of the car so fast," the New York Daily News quoted witness Devonte Brown as saying.

"They started shooting him and he went down, he was bleeding, holding his side, screaming, 'stop, stop." But one woman, who identified herself as the slain teen’s cousin, told NY1 that Kimani was in fact holding the gun for a friend. She also believed that Kimani was attempting to alert the police that he had the weapon rather than use it.

After the shooting, Gray was rushed to a hospital but was declared dead on arrival. The officers involved in the shooting were also treated for trauma and tinnitus. Police said there is no evidence the unidentified officers acted inappropriately, though they were put on administrative leave.

The also said that Gray had previously been arrested four times on charges of grand larceny, possession of stolen property and inciting a riot.

http://rt.com/usa/brooklyn-riot-police-protesters-127/