Police Reform Campaign Responds to Preet Bharara, DOJ Decision Not to Prosecute Officer Who Killed Ramarley Graham

In response to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara failing to convene a grand jury for the killing of Ramarley Graham, Communities United for Police Reform released the following statement from spokesperson Monifa Bandele.

“Preet Bharara's failure to convene a federal grand jury for the killing of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham is disappointing and adds to the long list of repeated failures of the local and federal justice systems to hold officers accountable when they brutalize or kill. Bharara and the Justice Department have communicated how little they value Black lives with their inaction, just as the failure of Bronx DA Robert Johnson did, and Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bratton continue to by allowing these officers to remain on the NYPD. This lack of accountability is what perpetuates these unjust police killings – neither training nor announcements about ‘community policing’ will substitute for timely and meaningful accountability for police brutality.

"Four years after Ramarley was unjustly killed in his home, in front of his grandmother and 6-year-old brother, questions remain related to the investigation of the NYPD's abuse of family members and attempts to obscure the facts after the incident.

"Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bratton must now take action to hold Officer Haste and all the officers responsible for the killing of Ramarley Graham accountable, and remove them from the NYPD - as well as officers who violated the rights of Ramarley's family after the incident and obscured and/or lied about the incident. They not only violated the family of Ramarley Graham’s rights by busting into their home without legal cause and killing Ramarley, but afterward threatened, assaulted and mistreated other family members and obscured an objective investigation into Ramarley’s killing. Commissioner Bratton did not initiate his involvement in this case with good faith when he misled public officials with his statements that DOJ requested the NYPD hold off on its disciplining of these officers – Preet Bharara’s office acknowledged that request never occurred and was simply not true in a meeting with the family, the Justice Committee and Communities United for Police Reform yesterday. If the police commissioner is willing to mislead the public, what are we to expect the standard to be for officers underneath his command? The de Blasio/Bratton administration needs to stop dragging its feet, and fire all of the officers responsible for killing Ramarley, abusing his family's rights and those who obscured or lied about the incident in the days following.”

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