Liang ain't white. Not that anyone cares.
Liang ain't white.
I had that thought. I also wondered who he pissed off in the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.
I can't help but imagine he was standing next to a door with his back against the wall and his gun in the air, while singing the Mission Impossible theme to himself.
1: I wonder if that was the issue. Mostly, I think the difference was that there was no easy way to put any of the blame on the victim, who was literally just standing there, next to a witness who could confirm that he was literally just standing there. All the rest of the killings, there was something to cloud the issue -- whatever was happening with Brown, the guy in the Walmart holding the toy gun, the kid in the park holding the toy gun, the crazy guy with the knife, Garner was at least struggling. But this guy didn't do anything at all to contribute to his death, and they couldn't have faked anything up without getting rid of the woman who was standing there with him.
Wasn't it found that Liang called a union rep before calling for EMS / backup?
They could always have just said that the victim had a yelled something threatening about having a gun or something, and then it would have been that woman's word against that of a hero cop (and his partner). My guess is that he didn't think to make up a story early on, which wouldn't be too surprising given that he was a rookie and hence a lot less cynical* about things.
*(By which I mean: defaulted to "I really screwed up and should admit that because that's what you do when you really screw up" rather than "Eh he probably deserved it anyway no point in my getting in trouble I'll just make up something".)
that woman's word against that of a hero cop
Also speculating madly here, but you have to wonder if gender played into it -- that it might have seemed like a safe bet that a young minority male witness would have had enough of a record to be discrediting, but the odds of a criminal record were low enough for a woman that it didn't seem worth a try? Or, of course, it really isn't unlikely at all that Liang, while a reckless incompetent, is an honest person who was going to tell the truth about what happened regardless.
The more I think about it though the more I think that this is probably the key:
behaving stupidly and recklessly (as opposed to intentionally aggressively) with your gun will get you hung out to dry
The second the case became established as "acted like an idiot" rather than "reacted aggressively/boldly to (potential) danger" it was a lot more likely to end in a trial. The story from a while back where the cop leapt out of his car and shot that black guy* in a blind panic is the go to example for me. Right up until people saw the video of him there was a decent "he reached for a gun or looked like it anyway" story in play, but once it was widely visible the cop looked like a pathetic panicky coward and the whole thing turned on him.
*It took more searches on google to find this than would be ideal.
I had forgotten that the Brooklyn DA is black (Kenneth Thompson). Can't help but think that might have been another factor in why this cop shooting a black man was indicted as well (or, not so much that that this was why there was an indictment, but that it might have been why there wasn't a failure to indict, if you see the subtle distinction).