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Vol. 81/No. 44 November 27, 2017
(front page)
Jury: NY cops are responsible for killing of Mohamed Bah
BY SHEILA LAWRENCE
NEW YORK — In an important victory in the fight against police
brutality, a Manhattan federal jury Nov. 14 issued a $2.21 million civil
judgment against the New York Police Department in the 2012 death of
Mohamed Bah. It took the jury only hours to find that Detective Edwin
Mateo used excessive force in firing the shot that killed Bah.
“This is a victory for everyone,” Hawa Bah, Mohamed’s mother, told the
Militant. “It will help ensure that other mothers do not face what I
faced. It will protect my son’s legacy and protect the lives of other
Black and brown young men.”
Mohamed Bah, a 28-year-old student and taxi driver, was killed Sept. 25,
2012, after his mother called 911 to ask for an ambulance to take him to
the hospital. She had flown in from her native Guinea because her son
was suffering from depression.
Instead of medical help, nine heavily armed cops arrived. They refused
to allow her back into the apartment to speak with her son. Bah was hit
by several bullets, the final and fatal shot while he was lying on the
ground.
The jury also found that Lt. Michael Licitra, who was in charge, had
lost control over the cops.
Earlier this year, a federal prosecutor refused to seek an indictment of
any of the officers, claiming insufficient evidence. A Manhattan grand
jury in 2013 voted against bringing any criminal charges for similar
reasons. Initially the city said that the knife that police claim Bah
was threatening them with was lost. But in 2015 they changed their
story, saying it wasn’t lost, it had just been “contaminated” in
Hurricane Sandy.
At first the city said the clothing Mohamed Bah was wearing when he was
killed had been destroyed by the hospital. Then they claimed the
garments had been brought to the funeral home with his body. Suddenly,
on Nov. 3, several days into the civil trial, city officials informed
the court and the Bah family’s attorneys that the clothing was, in fact,
in NYPD custody.
“It is unforgivable to me that, either through malevolence or
incompetence, this would not have been discovered,” Judge Kevin Castel
said to the court.
“This was a cover-up,” Hawa Bah stated. “For five years they kept
evidence that might have helped us convict the cops.”
The city says it will appeal the verdict and will also try to avoid
paying the award by claiming immunity. “We have every expectation that
this judge will allow this jury’s verdict to stand,” Randolph
McLaughlin, a Bah family attorney, told the press.
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