Ramarley Graham
Sergeant Scott Morris and Officer John McLoughlin two of the officers involved in the killing of my son, Ramarley Graham have reportedly reached plea agreements with the NYPD on departmental charges.
My son Ramarley was gunned down and murdered by NYPD officers, who engaged in wide-reaching misconduct against my son and family, nearly six years ago. We still don’t even know the names of many of the officers involved and today’s news only relates to the actions of those officers we could identify.
It shouldn’t take more than half-a-decade to hold officers accountable for the unjust killing of a civilian. The foot-dragging and delays are just another example of the de Blasio administration’s failure to hold police officers and the NYPD accountable, undermining justice and perpetuating inequality in this city.
Every step of the way, the Mayor and NYPD have misled me and the public about this process and these officers, and this administration continues to fight in court to conceal information on the police misconduct that led to my son’s killing.
Richard Haste should have been in prison but instead of even firing him, the de Blasio administration let him resign. Sergeant Scott Morris, who was the ranking officer in charge on the scene that day officers improperly entered my home and killed my son, deserves to be fired and it is in the best interests of New Yorkers’ safety that he will resign from the NYPD.
Officer John McLoughlin, who was responsible for kicking down the door to my home that led to Ramarley being shot and killed also deserves to be fired, but instead he’s been earning pay raises and significant overtime in the nearly six years since killing my son.
McLoughlin’s loss of vacation days and placement on probation aren’t adequate or appropriate consequences for his actions that led to the murder of my son, who was killed in what should have been the safety of our home. McLoughlin lied on the stand and is pleading guilty to nearly the same departmental charge related to the improper entry of our home as Richard Haste did, so it doesn’t make sense that he will not be removed from the department as well.
Police accountability shouldn’t require the family members of victims and community members to wage non-stop campaigns for more than a half-decade – the fact it requires that in New York City under self-labeled “progressives” like Bill de Blasio and others speaks to a lack of commitment to real justice by politicians.
I’m glad Sergeant Morris will be off the force within a month, and am calling on the NYPD and the de Blasio administration to reconsider the probation for McLoughlin and fire him instead, and to also release the files related to my son’s murder that they have been fighting in court to continue withholding.
