NYC Police Officer who Killed Timothy Stansbury Gets Union Job

Richard Neri, the Brooklyn cop who shot and killed 19-year-old Timothy Stansbury on the roof of a Bed-Stuy apartment building last winter, has been elected to a police union office. In his paid position as a Patrolmen's Benevolent Association delegate in Brooklyn North, Neri will be the new go-to guy for officers in his precinct. Among other duties for the powerful PBA, Neri will be first on the scene in the event a cop, for example, shoots someone and thinks he might need advice. Just one year ago, Neri was on the receiving end of such PBA help. On January 24, 2004, Stansbury was trying to take a shortcut across a roof to get more CDs for a friend's birthday party. He got as far as a door that opens out to the roof when, in the stairwell, he was shot once in the chest by Neri. The African American teen, a McDonald's employee who was working on his high school diploma, was unarmed and had never been in trouble with police. Neri later said he pulled the trigger unintentionally. A Brooklyn grand jury later cleared Neri of any criminal liability. Stansbury's family has filed a civil suit against Neri, who has remained benched, sans gun and badge, pending an internal review of the shooting. He's still on non-enforcement "modified duty" until the NYPD's Firearms Review Board figures out whether to discipline him. How could a cop still under investigation for a deadly shooting—one who can't even carry a badge—be elected to union office? What's obvious to City Councilman Charles Barron, the unofficial spokesman for Stansbury's parents, is the symbolism of Neri's union post. "The Police Brutality Association—that's what I call them. That decision was absurd and unconscionable. They have in effect rewarded him for killing an innocent youth." [more]

• Preventing Another Stansbury [more]
• Teenager's Killing by Officer Was Not Justified, Police Say [more]
  
•  IS THE NYPD'S THIN BLUE LINE PROTECTING A LIAR?  [more]
• Family Of Teen Slain By Police Calls For Arrest Of Officer [more]
• Teens’ documentary about shooting goes to Sundance Festival [more]
• Pictured above:  Timothy Stansbury Sr. with a photo of his son, Timothy Jr., and daughter, Timeterss. [more]