The NYPD must release a large batch of records related to a cop's 2012 killing of Bronx teenager Ramarley Graham, a Manhattan judge ruled Wednesday.
Siding with Graham's parents and police-reform advocacy groups in a Freedom of Information lawsuit, state Supreme Court Justice Manuel J. Mendez said the NYPD was wrong to say every document Graham's parents requested last year was exempt from disclosure under state public records laws.
Graham's parents sought 45 sets of records in an extensive September 2016 Freedom of Information request. The NYPD first said it could release none of them either because making them public would interfere with investigations related to Graham's 2012 death, or because they were protected personnel records.
Mendez ordered the Police Department to release 36 sets of improperly withheld records either directly to Graham's parents, Constance Malcolm and Franclot Graham, or to Mendez for further review of whether they should be made public. They include records of the medical treatment Graham received after the shooting and disciplinary complaints against the cops involved.
The NYPD was only right to withhold five sets of records, including those related to internal investigations, policies and practices, Mendez ruled. Some other parts of the request were redundant, he said.
The decision represents a victory for Graham's family, who has demanded answers to lingering questions about Ramarley's February 2012 killing at the hands of then-NYPD Officer Richard Haste. Malcolm and police-reform advocates have criticized the Police Department and Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration for trying to keep the documents under wraps.
"It is our hope that the city will not continue dragging out our ability to receive answers any longer than the six years it already has delayed," Malcolm said in a statement Wednesday. "It shouldn't require the family members of victims and community members to wage non-stop campaigns for more than a half-decade just to get basic answers and accountability, but that has been the reality we've faced dealing with the de Blasio administration."
The city Law Department, which represented the NYPD in the case, is reviewing the decision and will "respond accordingly," spokesman Nick Paolucci said in an email.
Haste shot Graham, then 18, in the chest after chasing him into his Bronx apartment, thinking he had a gun when he didn't. Officer John McLoughlin kicked down the door to the apartment, while Sgt. Scott Morris supervised.
Haste resigned from the force this year after an NYPD judge recommended that he be fired. Morris and McLoughlin took settlements on Friday before their own discplinary trials started. Morris will retire after a 30-day suspension, while McLoughlin will forfeit 45 vacation days and be on disciplinary probation for a year.
In court last month, city lawyers argued some of the records Malcolm sought would have interfered with McLoughlin and Morris' disciplinary trials. They also cited advocates' calls for the cops' firings in arguing releasing certain documents could have led to threats against their personal safety.
Mendez rejected both arguments. His ruling also questioned the city's reliance on section 50-a of the state civil rights law, which lawyers have cited in broadly rejecting requests for documents related to cops' disciplinary records.