Mother Of Akai Gurley's Child IDs Body
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The mother of Akai Gurley's 2-year-old daughter went Wednesday to formally identify the body of the Brooklyn man shot dead by a police officer in a dark stairwell last week.
Kim Ballinger stood shivering in the icy rain outside the medical examiner's office, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported. Ballinger was accompanied by Kirsten John Foy of the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.
Ballinger was too distraught to speak to reporters.
"As you can all imagine, Kim is a little overwhelmed by the experience and saddened and disheartened about it," Foy said.
The medical examiner has ruled Gurley's death a homicide.
Foy said at this point he has the expectation of justice.
"We have a different district attorney in the county of Kings than they have in Ferguson (Missouri)," he said.
Ballinger also appeared at a rally Wednesday afternoon in Harlem with Sharpton, the parents of Michael Brown -- the unarmed teenager fatally shot by a cop in Ferguson -- and the wife and mother of Eric Garner -- the Staten Island man who died shortly after being placed in an apparent chokehold by police.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said Officer Peter Liang and his partner were going into a stairwell from the eighth floor of the Pink Houses public housing complex in East New York while Gurley, 28, and his girlfriend were going down the stairs from the seventh floor.
Police sources told CBS2 that Liang was trying to open a door while holding a gun, and the gun went off accidentally, hitting Gurley in the torso.
Gurley was taken to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Liang has been placed on modified duty. Prosecutors will determine if the rookie cop should be charged with a crime.
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