



An NYPD officer's decision to draw his handgun and not immediately tell supervisors he had fired the gun moved jurors to find him guilty in the death of an unarmed man, one of the jurors told BuzzFeed News Saturday.



Peter Liang was convicted Thursday of manslaughter and official misconduct in the 2014 death Akai Gurley, who was unarmed and walking down the stairwell of a Brooklyn housing development when he was shot.

"Primarily what was important to us was the fact that his finger was on the trigger," a juror, who asked not to be identified, told BuzzFeed News.



The fact Liang did not immediately report the misfire, which killed Gurley, was also particularly troubling for the jurors.

"As soon as his gun went off, he was responsible to immediately report that to a supervisor," the juror told BuzzFed News in an interview. "Innocent people could have been hurt, scared. For three-and-a-half minutes no supervisor was contacted."

Liang was conducting a vertical patrol — during which officers walk down the stairs of a housing development and check each floor — when he heard a "quick sound," tensed, and fired his gun down the stairwell.

Liang, who testified in his own defense, said his gun accidentally went off. The bullet ricocheted on the wall and struck Gurley in the chest.

Defense attorneys argued it is not against department policy for officers to unholster their weapons, and that they can use discretion. But jurors believed Liang, as a uniformed officer, should be held to a higher standard because of his training.

"It was his responsibility, as a police officer charged with protecting innocent people and using a deadly weapon, that he was able to do more," the juror said. "[He] should have done more to prevent an accident from happening."

Other jurors have also said Liang's decision to put his finger on the trigger during the patrol was a key part in the verdict.

"From the experts, through their testimony, a shot cannot be discharged unless your finger is on the trigger," Carlton Screen, another juror, told the Daily News.