NYPD Officer Who Shot Ramarley Graham Resigns Before Being Fired
Another police officer gets little to no punishment for shooting an unarmed black citizen as former New York Police Department Officer Richard Haste resigns from his position, according to The New York Times.
In 2012, Haste and other NYPD narcotics officers chased 18-year-old, unarmed Ramarley Graham into his home, barged their way in and shot him dead. Haste was indicted by a grand jury in 2012, but a judge threw out the charges.
Ever since, Haste has been employed by the NYPD awaiting a ruling on if his actions that day were justified.
After five years, deputy commissioner Rosemarie Maldonado oversaw the case and found that Haste’s actions that day were worthy of his dismissal from the department citing a use of “poor tactical judgment.”
Before he could be dismissed from the job he arguably should’ve been removed from years ago, Haste resigned from his position.
“This is just another example that the de Blasio administration doesn’t care about justice and accountability,” Graham’s mother, Constance Malcolm, said in a statement.
Unfortunately, the de Blasio administration is far from the only one guilty of not holding officers accountable for their actions in an expeditious manner.
Every few days, we wake up to a new story of a police officer shooting someone who they clearly shouldn’t have. Then, for the next few months, we’re occasionally reminded how the law won’t hold them accountable more often than it will, and will likely only give them a slap on the wrist in those rare instances.
It’s exhausting to constantly write about, as I’m sure it’s draining to constantly read about, hear about and watch. Despite our exhaustion, it keeps happening and we have to stand out ground against the system because no one else will.