Which is why he was taught his first day on the range not to put you finger on the trigger until you have acquired a target and made a conscious decision to shoot it.
He didn’t “panic and shoot into a dark stairwell”. He was using very poor tactics, including finger on the trigger. He got startled by something and fired unintentionally. Manslaughter is the appropriate charge.
Jeff Cooper's Four Rules of Gun Handling:
RULE 1: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED
RULE 2: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO DESTROY
RULE 3: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER TIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET
RULE 4: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET
Cop violated rules 2, 3, and 4. If his finger had not been on the trigger, then a "flinch" would not have resulted in the gun firing.
This was a bad one, yes. Vertical patrols of (usually) darkened stairwells in housing projects are among the most dangerous assignments for NYPD officers, but there was no justification for this shooting or for the officer conducting the patrol to do so with his finger on the trigger.
It was reckless, and that recklessness resulted in a death - textbook case of 2nd degree manslaughter under NY law.
Wow! I am shocked a cop was actually convicted of manslaughter instead of the usual, “The cop feared for his life” crap!
“Liang said he drew his pistol as he and his partner patrolled the darkened 8th floor stairwell of the Louis H. Pink Houses in Brooklyn.”
They don’t make flashlights in NY???