Ramarley Graham's Parents Worried Officer will Walk: Unarmed Black Teen Killed by NYPD

From [HERE] INSIDE THE HOME where their 18-year-old unarmed son was killed by a cop, Ramarley Graham’s parents said Thursday they are “disappointed” by the criminal charges in the case and worried that no one will go to jail. Officer Richard Haste, who is free on $50,000 bail after his arraignment this week, deserved a tougher rap than manslaughter — and his bosses should have been arrested, too, the parents said.

“We’re not happy with the charges,” Graham’s mother, Constance Malcolm, 38, told the Daily News in the three-story home on E. 229th St. in the Bronx. “We’re very disappointed. It should have been a murder charge.” Although Haste fired the fatal bullet after cornering the teen in the bathroom of the second-floor apartment, the family said the shooting wasn’t a solo operation. “There were many officers involved, but none of them were charged, including supervisors who should have known better,” Malcolm said.

The slain youth’s father, Franclot Graham, said he’s concerned it took four months for Bronx prosecutors to obtain an indictment — and the family is keenly aware that cops have been acquitted in other high-profile shootings, like the Sean Bell and Amadou Diallo cases.

“I’d like to see justice done in the case, which means a conviction with prison time,” the father said.

But he said it shouldn’t end there. “It means changing policy. It means you don’t just arrest people for the way they look, for the color of their skin,” he said.

The NYPD claims officers saw Ramarley with a gun in his waistband and ran after him when he took off. Surveillance video, however, shows the teen walking into his house — followed by cops who broke down the door without a warrant. No gun was found, though a bag of marijuana was recovered in the bathroom.

“When a cop breaks into a home without a warrant, when we are not safe in our home, where are we safe?” Malcolm asked.

She described how she learned her son was dead: overhearing a cop talk about the “homicide” on E. 229th St. while she sat on a bench in the stationhouse waiting for information.

“I just froze,” she said, claiming that she heard officers laughing.

“They thought it was a joke. Just like at the arraignment,” she said, referring to cops who cheered Haste at Wednesday’s court appearance.

The nursing assistant said her 6-year-old son, Chinoor, who was home when his older brother was gunned down, still hasn’t come to terms with his absence.

“He asks for his brother every day,” she said.

The elder Graham looked down the narrow hallway that leads into the bathroom where Haste claims he felt like he was in mortal danger.

“I can’t understand how it happened. It doesn’t make any sense,” the 48-year-old said. “It’s too much for any father to bear . . . you don’t expect to bury your kid.”