NY Cop Charged in Unarmed Man's Death

[951-Riverside]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (AP) -- A police officer pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a manslaughter charge in the shooting death of an unarmed man after a May car accident.

A grand jury's indictment of Officer Raphael Lora was unsealed in a Bronx courtroom Wednesday. He was expected to be released on $50,000 bail.

Police have said that Lora, 37, who was off duty, fired five times while trying to stop Fermin Arzu from leaving the accident scene on May 18. The Honduran immigrant died at the scene.

The shooting happened across the street from the officer's home in the Bronx, after Arzu, a building porter, crashed his minivan into a parked car.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OFFICER_FATALITY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-12-05-13-37-48

[AX10]

1. Give the SOB the maximum sentence.

I hear there are some openings in GITMO.

[HuffleClaw]

2. "Assistant District Attorney Larry Hartstein said...

...of the grand jurors: "It's obvious that they did not believe his testimony. They believed there was no justification for the shooting.""

"Lora told the grand jury there was a struggle as he tried to stop Arzu, and he fired in self defense because he feared he would be dragged under the car. Lora said he had identified himself as a police officer."

and the guy gets a measly 50K in bail? and a manslaughter charge for shooting a guy on purpose?

[shenmue]

3. I hate to bring it up, but the fact that he was off duty doesn't mean he isn't supposed to respond

when he sees something happen. Notice you didn't bold the words about the guy crashing his minivan into a parked car. A sudden incident like that probably makes the officer think that something violent happened-- because it did. It looks like something somebody high or drunk would do-- crash a van into a parked car? Police officers have to decide things in split seconds. The officer probably assumed that whoever was coming out of that car was not in their right mind, and if they crashed a car, what else were they going to do?

[jayfish]

4. I've Seen Many Posts On DU That Defend Questionable Police Violence.

Most of them, even though I think they are incorrect, take an understandable and arguable position. Yours is just sad.

Jay

[AX10]

5. That is just sick!

This SOB is a murderer! A Pig!

[classysassy]

6. The history

of New Yorks cops is one not to be proud of.Power in the hands of some cops is deadly.

[nebula]

7. Drunk hit and run drivers---No punishment is too extreme for them

...if a drunk hit and run driver fails to stop, even after being told do so by a police officer, then he needs to be stopped by whatever means necessary, including deadly forced if necessary. drunk drivers should not be fucking allowed to get away under any circumstances!

Toxicology tests showed Arzu's blood alcohol level was over the legal limit at the time of the crash, officials have said.

"We can only speculate about what might have happened if this out of control drunk driver was allowed to continue his trail of destruction. A criminal indictment was unwarranted in this case," police union president Patrick J. Lynch said in a statement Wednesday.

[Pastiche423]

8. The cop knew the victim was drunk before he shot him dead, how?

Disgusting.