Jamaican youth remembered one year after death

NEW YORK, USA (CMC) – On the first anniversary of his killing, hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Bronx, New York home of Ramarley Graham a Jamaican teenager gunned down by New York police.

Family and community members said they were not only rallying for justice but also against police brutality of young minority males.

“We want people to remember what happened to Ramarley and hope another family doesn’t feel the pain we’re feeling,” said Graham’s Jamaican-born mother, Constance Malcolm. “It’s a pain I hope no other parent will have to go through.”

Franclot Graham, Graham’s father, Malcolm and others then marched to the 47th Police Precinct in the Bronx and then held a memorial for the slain 18-year-old.

A new lawsuit filed by the Graham family on Friday charged that the New York Police Department (NYPD) cop accused of gunning down Graham also threatened to shoot his sobbing grandmother in the chaotic moments after cops burst into their Bronx apartment.

The 108-page lawsuit details how plainclothes officers in the street narcotics unit barged into their apartment, fired at the teen and hauled his grandmother away for hours of gruelling questioning and intimidation.

Graham’s family filed the lawsuit in Bronx Supreme Court, on the eve of the anniversary of his death.

They accused the NYPD of improperly training officers, unfairly targeting minorities in stop-and-frisks, and trying to cover up the shooting of the 18-year-old.

It was reported that on February 2, 2012, Police Officer Richard Haste shot Graham in the chest after following the teen into his apartment bathroom.

Haste was indicted on a manslaughter charge in June.

The lawsuit does not specify a damage amount the family seeks. It claims that Graham was unduly targeted for being black and that the NYPD has not done enough to train cops in the Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit.

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