Another lawsuit has been filed to take aim at NYPD stop-and-frisk policy. In this particular suit, anger towards the police practice and its effects is borne of personal tragedy. The family of Ramarley Graham, an unarmed teenager who was shot dead in his Bronx bathroom by police exactly one year ago, are suing the police, accusing the department of poor officer training and disproportionately targeting minority youths with stops.<\/p>\n
Writing in the Guardian, Ryan Devereaux details the contents Graham family lawsuit:<\/p>\n
At over 100 pages in length, the Graham family lawsuit paints a picture of a chaotic scene the afternoon Ramarley was killed. It alleges that after forcing his way into the Graham home, Haste shot the unarmed teenager in the chest in his bathroom, as his six-year-old brother and 58-year-old grandmother, Patricia Hartley, looked on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you shoot him, why you killed him?\u201d Hartley cried out after Haste fired, the suit claims. \u201cGet the fuck away before I have to shoot you, too,\u201d Haste is said to have replied as he shoved Graham\u2019s 85-pound grandmother into a vase, the suit alleges.<\/p>\n
The suit names as defendants Richard Haste, the (now former) police officer responsible for shooting Graham, as well as NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly and a number of other officers. Haste has pleaded not guilty to charges of first and second degree manslaughter. Meanwhile, the Graham family civil suit does not specify damages bu does call for an overhaul of training practices for street narcotics enforcement units (SNEU). Devereaux notes, \u201cHaste was a member of one such unit, which scans streets for suspected illegal drug activity, but had not participated in the required training for the assignment, reports later revealed.\u201d<\/p>\n