- Police Brutality Watch

Zongo family stifles anger at cop in court

The widow and brothers of an African immigrant fatally shot by a cop in Chelsea two years ago said they were seething with anger when they saw the officer for the first time in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday. "She said she was ready to yell and cry, but she knew she was in a courtroom and she cannot do anything. Just accept," said Mohamed Debassy, an interpreter for Salimata Sanfo, the widow of Ousmane Zongo, who was shot four times by Officer Bryan Conroy. Debassy said Zongo's other brother, Douada, told him he said nothing because "he's waiting for justice to be done." The family, looking somber but colorful in African robes, spoke outside Manhattan Supreme Court, where Conroy will be tried for second-degree manslaughter. Conroy, then a 26-year-old rookie in plainclothes, was guarding counterfeit CDs seized inside Chelsea Mini Storage when he encountered Zongo, an immigrant from Burkina Faso who spoke little English and used a locker in the warehouse for his business of repairing African artifacts. Conroy told a grand jury last year he fired five shots when Zongo struggled to take his gun in the May 22, 2003, incident. The cop says he was justified in firing to defend his life. Prosecutor Armand Durastanti contends he was reckless in drawing his gun initially. The officer, Bryan A. Conroy, was quick to aim his gun at the man, Ousmane Zongo, an African immigrant, when the two encountered each other during the raid on a counterfeit CD operation, said the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Armand Durastanti. Officer Conroy "took an nonthreatening situation and made it threatening by introducing lethal force," Mr. Durastanti said in his opening statement yesterday as Mr. Conroy's trial began in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. [more] and [more] and [more]