Timothy Stansbury

Timothy Stansbury, Jr. (November 16, 1984 - January 24, 2004) was a 19-year old unarmed New York City teenager shot and killed by NYPD Officer Richard S. Neri Jr. on January 24, 2004. Officer Neri and a partner were patrolling the rooftop of a housing project in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn at about 1 a.m. Officer Neri, with his gun drawn, approached a rooftop door to check the starirway inside. Neri testified to a Brooklyn grand jury that he fired unintentionally when he was startled as Stansbury pushed open the rooftop door. Stansbury, a resident of an adjoining building, died from one shot in the chest. The grand jury found the shooting to be accidental. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E1DC123DF93BA25751C0A9629C8B63 Officer Avoids Indictment in Killing on Brooklyn Rooftop] , New York Times, February 18, 2004]

Initial Reaction to Shooting

Unlike previous incidents, the response of the NYPD was quick and condemnatory. Said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly "At this point, based on the facts we have gathered, there appears to be no justification for the shooting... This is a tragic incident that compels us to take an in-depth look at our tactics and training, both for new and veteran officers." [McFadden, Robert D. and Urbina, Ian. "Fatal Shooting Not Justified, The Police Say" New York Times 25 January 2004,P.1.]

Investigation

A grand jury convened on January 30, 2004 to investigate the shooting; this was also the day of Stansbury's emotional funeral. [Saltonstall, David "Mike's Promise At Roof-Slay Site" New York Daily News, 31 January 2004, p.2.] Meanwhile, the controversy over NYPD Commissioner Kelly's initial statements on the shooting grew, with Patrick J. Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (the NYPD's union) stating: "Commissioner Kelly gave a message to the 23,000 New York City police officers that said basically this: Take all the risks of doing your job, go up on all those roofs, patrol all those subway platforms, walk the streets day and night, take the risks to yourself, take the risks to your family, but then when the worst happens, when there's a tragedy, that you will not have the backing of the New York police commissioner." [Wilson, Michael and Moynihan, Colin. "Police Union Calls for Kelly To Resign" New York Times 11 February 2004, p. B4.]

Grand Jury Decision

On February 17, 2004 after nearly a month of investigation, the grand jury declined to indict Officer Neri on charges of criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter, finding instead the shooting to be accidental. Mayor Mike Bloomberg who like Kelly had not been overtly supportive of Officer Neri said: "Although the death of Timothy Stansbury was a heartbreaking tragedy, a grand jury today decided that Officer Neri's actions were not criminal. The Police Department will conduct a review of the case to determine the appropriate course of action." [Dewan, Shaila K. and Rashbaum, William K. "Officer Avoids Indictment in Killing on Brooklyn Rooftop" New York Times 18 February 2004, p. B1.]

Film

Friends of the late Stansbury created a 22-minute film in 2005 entitled Bullets In The Hood that documents their lives in the housing projects of Bedford-Stuyvesant where their friend was killed. [http://www.dctvny.org/bullets/]

External links

* [http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0513,hunter,62493,5.html] Village Voice article from 2005.

References