--- description: Rookie officer Peter Liang will face second-degree manslaughter charges title: NYPD Officer Indicted for Manslaughter of Akai Gurley image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f4260e100ab8059/69877e7f524fc02d94dec673/akai-gurley1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # NYPD Officer Indicted in Killing of Unarmed Black Man by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 10, 2015 9:18 PM CUT  A demonstrator looks on at a memorial to Akai Gurley on Nov. 22, 2014, in Brooklyn, New York. A demonstrator looks on at a memorial to Akai Gurley on Nov. 22, 2014, in Brooklyn, New York.John Minchillo—AP by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 10, 2015 9:18 PM CUT A New York police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man in a housing project stairwell has been [indicted](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/10451d50cd814b8b9c76cb0f2a6f8f72/officer-indicted-killing-unarmed-man-nyc-stairwell "undefined") for manslaughter over the incident. Officer Peter Liang, a rookie, shot Akai Gurley, a 28-year-old Brooklyn resident, in a dark stairwell during a routine patrol of an apartment building, the Associated Press reports. NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton called the killing “an unfortunate accident.” According to the [New York _Daily News_](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/involved-fatal-shooting-akai-gurley-indicted-article-1.2109892 "undefined"), Liang will face second-degree manslaughter charges with a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison. The decision comes two months after a grand jury decided not to indict an NYPD officer for the killing of Eric Garner, another unarmed black man, on Staten Island. The Garner decision sparked several weeks of protests in New York and around the country. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/10451d50cd814b8b9c76cb0f2a6f8f72/officer-indicted-killing-unarmed-man-nyc-stairwell "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3703818/nypd-akai-gurley-indicted-cop/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3703818/nypd-akai-gurley-indicted-cop/"},"headline":"NYPD Officer Indicted in Killing of Unarmed Black Man","datePublished":"2015-02-10T21:18:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:18:44.957Z","description":"Rookie officer Peter Liang will face second-degree manslaughter charges","url":"https://time.com/3703818/nypd-akai-gurley-indicted-cop/","keywords":["Crime","NYPD","Eric Garner"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f4260e100ab8059/69877e7f524fc02d94dec673/akai-gurley1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6f4260e100ab8059/69877e7f524fc02d94dec673/akai-gurley1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Public Housing Police Shooting","caption":"Public Housing Police Shooting","creditText":"John Minchillo—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3703818/nypd-akai-gurley-indicted-cop/","name":"NYPD Officer Indicted in Killing of Unarmed Black Man"}}]}] ```