Akai Gurley: family of black man shot dead by New York police sues city

The family of Akai Gurley, the unarmed man fatally shot by New York City police in an unlit housing project stairwell in 2014, has filed suit against the city.

Gurley’s partner, Kimberly Ballinger, brought the suit, which was filed in Brooklyn supreme court on Thursday. She is suing on behalf of his estate and their two-year-old daughter, Akaila Gurley.

The officer who shot Gurley, Peter Liang, and his partner at the time of the shooting, Shaun Landau, are named in the suit, as is the New York City police department and the New York City housing authority, which operates the public housing system.

Gurley, 28, was killed while walking down a darkened stairwell at Brooklyn’s Louis H Pink houses in November 2014. Police said that officer Liang fired his gun accidentally but local politicians and community members have questioned why the officer was patrolling with his gun out of its holster.

The lawsuit claims that Liang shot Gurley “negligently and recklessly” and accuses the officers of not providing adequate medical aid after the shooting. It also says the housing authority created a “traplike condition” with insufficient lighting in the stairwell and that the city was negligent in its hiring and training of the officers involved in the shooting.

Liang was indicted in February on charges including second-degree manslaughter.

In January, Gurley’s family filed a notice of claim, indicating that they would be pursuing a lawsuit against the city. They filed a separate notice against the housing authority.