The charges against Officer Peter Liang were not revealed Tuesday.
Gurley, 28, was “a total innocent who just happened” to run into Liang in a “pitch black” stairwell at the Louis H. Pink Houses in Brooklyn, New York Police Commissioner William Bratton told reporters the day after the killing.
At the time, the NYPD said the fatal shot was an “accidental discharge.”
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Gurley’s shooting occurred at a time of strained police/community relations after the July death of Eric Garner at the hands of police on Staten Island. The chokehold death of the unarmed 43-year-old man sparked street protests, a review of police procedures and calls for a federal civil rights investigation. A grand jury declined to prosecute the officer.
A few weeks after Garner’s death, the police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, of unarmed teenager Michael Brown thrust into the forefront the issue of law enforcement’s use of deadly force. A grand jury declined to prosecute Officer Darren Wilson, a decision that led to national demonstrations.
