A judge has criticized the NYPD for delaying disciplining officers involved in the fatal shooting of Ramarley Graham in 2012 and ordered the department to release documents related to the tragedy.
Justice Manuel Mendez signed his decision on Dec. 22 — the same day NYPD Sgt. Scott Morris and Officer John McLoughlin were finally reprimanded for their roles in the Bronx shooting of the unarmed 18-year-old.
Mendez's ruling filed in Manhattan Supreme Court was apparently written before that news became public. He slammed the department for arguing that Graham's mother, Constance Malcolm, was not entitled to Civilian Complaint Review Board records on Morris and McLoughlin because they were the subjects of internal investigations. Malcolm sought those records, along with an array of other documents, in a request filed in Sept. 2016 through the state's Freedom of Information Law.
The NYPD's "delay of almost six years since the incident with no stated date for the disciplinary trials, or reference to any specific ongoing investigation, creates a semblance of using Civil Rights Law…inappropriately as a shield to protect the NYPD from embarrassment, and not the interests of either Sergeant Morris or Officer McLoughlin," Mendez wrote.
Under Mayor de Blasio, the city has implemented a broad interpretation of Section 50-a of the state Civil Rights Law, arguing that all police personnel records are exempt from being released to the public.
"It’s disgusting that the de Blasio administration has fought in court against a mother whose son was killed by the NYPD to conceal records that could provide our family with some basic answers," Malcolm said.
Mendez ordered that information including details of Graham's medical treatment after being shot, NYPD statements about the killing and a police investigation into Graham's friends be turned over to Malcolm.
The Daily News reported Friday that Morris will be suspended for 30 days without pay, then will resign without the "good guy" letter that would have allowed him to carry a weapon, according to sources.
McLoughlin accepted a penalty of 45 lost vacation days and was placed on dismissal probation for a year, meaning he could be fired for any infraction, sources said.
Richard Haste, the cop who pulled the trigger and killed Graham, resigned from the NYPD in March.
Mendez said he will review CCRB records on Morris, McLoughlin and Haste before determining whether they can be turned over to Malcolm.
But the judge wrote that the city had not shown that such records would be used to "harass or impeach" the three current and former cops.
Malcolm's attorney, Gideon Oliver, said he hoped the decision would lead the Law Department and NYPD to rethink the refusal to release police personnel records.
"This is obviously a particularly egregious example, but it’s certainly not the only example," he said.
Police suspected Graham had participated in a drug deal and was carrying a gun when Haste followed him into his Wakefield home on Feb. 2, 2012.
Haste fatally shot Graham in the bathroom, in front of his grandmother and little brother.
A Law Department spokesman said the decision will be reviewed once its received.