NEW YORK (AP) – When rookie police Officer Peter Liang fired his gun in a pitch-dark public housing stairwell, he at first thought he had hurt nothing but his career. Then he went looking for the bullet and heard someone crying.
He followed the sound down three flights and saw a man lying wounded and a distraught woman bending over him, Liang said Monday at his manslaughter trial in the 2014 death of Akai Gurley, who was unarmed.
“I said, ‘Oh, my God, someone’s hit!” Liang recalled as he gave emotional testimony. He took a brief break from the witness stand to compose himself after turning away from the court audience and dabbing at his eyes as he fought tears.
Liang said he fired unintentionally after a noise startled him while he was patrolling with his gun drawn, his finger on the weapon’s side.
“I just turned, and the gun went off,” Liang said, explaining that his body “tensed up.”