Ramarley Graham Shooting: Five Years Later, Family Calls for Action

FOLEY SQUARE, NY — Fiver years after Ramarley Graham was shot and killed by a New York police officer, the case still isn't settled.

Graham's family gathered in Foley Square on Thursday night, five years after the 18-year-old's death, demanding that the officer who opened fire lose his job.

The various review procedures have taking years to process the case, and they still aren't done: Police officials still haven't decided whether to fire or discipline Richard Haste, the white officer who fatally shot Graham.

The unarmed black teenager died in 2012, more than two years before Eric Garner was killed in a police chokehold on Staten Island and Michael Brown was gunned down by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

On Thursday night, hundreds gathered with Graham's family and activists to demand that Haste and the other officers involved in the shooting be fired from the police department. Haste was indicted for manslaughter, but the charges were ultimately thrown out due to a prosecutorial error. A second jury declined to indict the officer, and federal officials also declined to bring civil rights charges.

Graham's mother Constance Malcolm spoke before a sizable crowd in Foley Square on Thursday night, calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to step in and direct the head of the NYPD to discipline Haste and other officers present at the scene.

"It's a shame we have to be here five years later," she said. "My son was just walking home and the NYPD decided they saw a gun."

Graham was unarmed when was killed. Haste and another officer saw him walking down the street and followed him to his building in the Bronx, according to the police account. Police forced their way into Graham's apartment and Haste opened fire when he claimed he thought Graham was reaching for a gun.

Malcolm penned an op-ed in the New York Times on Thursday, calling out De Blasio, who she said hasn't met with her since he was elected mayor.

Image via Patch.