Richard Haste, the officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in the Bronx, has resigned from the NYPD to avoid being fired following a disciplinary trial.
Haste reportedly decided to resign after being informed on Friday that the Department Trial Commissioner found him guilty on all counts and recommended that his employment be terminated.
Ramarley Graham was 18 when he was shot once in the bathroom of his Bronx home in 2012 during a drug investigation.
He was killed in front of his grandmother and 6-year-old brother.
Haste faced departmental charges for demonstrating “poor tactical judgment.” He was accused of not taking obvious steps to defuse a fatal standoff that ended in Graham’s death.
Upon Haste’s resignation, Graham’s mother Constance Malcolm released a statement saying in part,
“My son Ramarley was gunned down and murdered by NYPD Officer Richard Haste over 5 years ago. Richard Haste should have been in prison but instead of even firing him, the de Blasio administration let him resign. This is just another example that the de Blasio administration doesn’t care about justice and accountability. Every step of the way, the Mayor and NYPD have dragged their heels and have refused to hold officers accountable for murdering my son.”
Mayor de Blasio said that the disciplinary trial ended with the right decision – termination.
“Ramarley Graham was a son, a friend and, most importantly, a young man with his whole life left to live. Nothing can take away the profound pain left after his loss, but I hope the conclusion of this difficult process brings some measure of justice to those who loved him,” the Mayor said.
Earlier in January, Haste for the first time publicly described the events five years ago that took place in the house when he fired one shot, killing Graham.
“The absolute last thing I ever wanted to do was pull that trigger other than at a paper target,” he said.
Haste, department prosecutors claim, should have set up an outside perimeter and called for emergency service officers.
Haste initially faced a criminal manslaughter charge in the death, but the case was dismissed because of a procedural error. A new grand jury declined to indict, and federal prosecutors also declined to bring charges.
The family settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the city for $3.9 million.
The tears and headaches of this family will not go in vain. Richard Haste, more reaction dey round de cawna fe yu battybwoy! A hope de killing of Ramarley haunt yu fe de rest of yu life asshole!
Yes him should be in jail run up in the house and kill him tragic and trying to lie pon top of it I hope him ghost haunt u
Aye sah $3.9M….and expected his family to stay quiet. So now the family can file a wrongful death lawsuit against him. This puxxy resigned so that he can keep his pension. Ramarley spirit must haunt him, pickney dem, wife/gal, muma/puppa, granny (cause he was murdered in front of his grandmother), grandfather, rest of his family and the ENTIRE NYPD. Mayor Diblasio can fuxk off bcuz this is for political gain. Why isn’t this coward in prison for murder? I’m still not satisfied because justice was still not served, since he’s free and getting his pension, while this young man’s family has to visit his grave bcuz he’s not coming back home. Humanity fail me…..
3.9m is an insult. The people dem son never did anything but they should thank their God because I would kill his ass n go prison
So can they go for a civil suit now or would the 3.9mil stop that.