NEW YORK (AP) – The parents of an unarmed black teenager killed by a white police officer four years ago Tuesday have written a letter to the mayor and his wife saying the city has waited too long to fire the officer.
Ramarley Graham was 18 when he was shot once in the bathroom of his Bronx home by an officer who had barged inside during a drug investigation.
The teen’s parents, Constance Malcolm and Franclot Graham, said in their letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, that they were appealing to them as fellow parents.
“Four years have passed, and there has been no explanation, no justice, no morality, and thus no sense of legitimacy,” said the letter, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press. “It is sickening for any penny of our tax dollars – or any New Yorkers’ for that matter – to be received by any of the officers who were responsible for the murder of our son, and the cover-up.”
Mayoral spokeswoman Monica Klein called Graham’s death “a tragedy,” adding that de Blasio is committed to improving the relationship between the police and the community.