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In emotional testimony, N.Y. officer describes fatal shooting

Kenneth Palmer, stepfather of shooting victim Akai Gurley, spoke Monday after an officer testified about the killingJennifer Peltz/Associated Press

NEW YORK — The rookie New York City police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man in the stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project testified Monday that he drew his weapon because of the foreboding and dangerous environment and that he mistakenly fired his gun when he became startled.

As he described the events of that night, Officer Peter Liang broke down and had to take a break from testifying to compose himself.

The emotions on display in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn reflected the intensity of the feelings surrounding the trial, which has raised questions about the lethal use of force by the police and the difficult situations law enforcement officers can find themselves in even when performing what would be considered routine duty.

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On Nov. 20, 2014, Liang and his partner, Officer Shaun Landau, were conducting what is known as a vertical patrol at the Louis H. Pink Houses in East New York.

Liang had just entered a darkened stairwell when he fired his gun, the bullet ricocheting off a wall before striking Akai Gurley, 28, who was walking down the stairs with his girlfriend.

Liang, 28, is charged with manslaughter and other offenses.

Prosecutors have spent much of the two-week trial arguing that unholstering his weapon was unwarranted and reckless in a place filled with residents going about their daily business.

Liang said that before entering the stairwell, he had seen bullet holes on the roof. “I feel the need to take my gun out,” he said.

Struggling to keep his composure, he described the moment he fired his weapon — the result of a combination of dread and confusion.

“I heard something on my left side; it was a quick sound and it just startled me, and the gun just went off after I tensed up,” he said.

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Liang was relatively new to the force. The dangers of the kind of patrol he was on were underscored last week when two officers, Diara E. Cruz and Patrick Espeut, were shot in a housing project in the Bronx.

As a lawyer for the defense asked Liang to recall the shooting, he became overwhelmed with emotion.

“I said, ‘Oh my god, someone is hit!’” he said, as his mother watched in the packed courtroom. “I went over the radio, ‘Pink Post One, male shot, call a bus.’ ”

He became unable to continue and was offered a brief break to compose himself before being questioned by prosecutors.

In addition to the manslaughter charge, Liang is charged with official misconduct for not helping Gurley as he lay on a fifth-floor landing. Transcripts from radio calls that night that have been introduced into evidence do not show that Liang called for an ambulance.

Gurley’s girlfriend, Melissa Butler, described in previous testimony how she crouched over his body, trying to revive him, but neither Liang nor his partner performed CPR, as is required under Police Department rules.

On Thursday, Landau was called by the prosecution to testify against his partner. “Peter was in shock,” he told the jury. “He couldn’t believe he just shot someone.”