The NYPD began spreading misinformation shortly after Ramarley Graham, an unarmed Bronx teen killed by a cop, drew his final breath, his mother says.
Internal NYPD documents newly turned over to Graham’s mother through a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit show inaccurate accounts of Graham’s 2012 death began at the crime scene.
One document filed by a cop who seized Officer Richard Haste’s 9-mm. pistol after Haste fired it once, killing Graham, notes it was possibly “touched by perp.”
Another document by crime scene unit Detective Paul Brown described Haste, 36, engaging in a “foot pursuit” after an attempt to “initiate an arrest.” The document, detailing the crime scene the day of the shooting, said Haste shot Graham “during the struggle.” A second crime scene report filed a month after the shooting repeated that narrative.
But there’s a big problem with those critical details.
“None of that happened,” noted Constance Malcolm, Graham’s mother. “The NYPD immediately put out false information to justify the killing.”
Departmental trials of Haste and two other officers involved in the botched bust revealed there was no foot pursuit.
Surveillance video showed Graham, 18, walking into his grandmother’s home, likely not knowing cops were following. Haste and Officer John McLoughlin, 34, entered through a rear door. They suspected Graham had made a drug deal and was armed.
Haste then shot Graham in a second-floor bathroom. At his departmental trial, Haste said Graham was reaching into his waistband. Initial reports of the encounter had referenced a scuffle, but then-Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly dispelled that notion within 24 hours of the killing Feb. 2, 2012. “We don’t believe there was contact,” he said.
And yet that narrative reappeared on a crime scene unit report dated March 4, 2012. There was no indication on the document that the account had changed.
Malcolm, whose aching grief has been equaled only by her six-year quest for justice for her son, said she still encounters people who mistakenly believe Graham was running. “Maybe he was running because he was guilty of something — he was running because he was doing something — that’s very damaging,” she said.
“They never retracted that lie. It leads to a false narrative.”
Haste resigned ahead of being fired after his departmental trial. In December, Sgt. Scott Morris, 42, the on-scene commander, was suspended for 30 days and then resigned without a “good guy” letter that would have allowed him to carry a gun.
McLoughlin, who kicked in the door to Graham’s apartment, lost 45 vacation days and was placed on dismissal probation for a year.
None of the officers who responded to the scene was charged with lying or making false official statements.
The NYPD’s press office did not respond to a request for comment.
The new documents come weeks after the Daily News reported on the opaque standards surrounding NYPD disciplinary cases — as well as the lack of officers charged with lying on official documents.
Malcolm’s attorney Gideon Oliver said there were no consequences for the false information on paperwork.
“When the brass allow fabrication as to whether there was a struggle in a case like this, it just encourages police to fabricate more evidence,” he said.
Haste’s attorney Stuart London said he did not recall Haste being questioned during two Bronx grand juries or his departmental trial about a supposed “struggle” with Graham.
“Haste was credible and his tactics inside were the basis for his being terminated,” London said. “He never shied away or was charged with inaccurately describing what happened.”