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Cop Who Taught CPR To Officer Peter Liang Stripped Of Her Badge
By
Emma Whitford
Published Mar 9, 2016
Modified Mar 9, 2016
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By
Emma Whitford
Published Mar 9, 2016
Modified Mar 9, 2016
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A Police Academy CPR instructor was stripped of her badge this week, after a former NYPD officer testified in court that he only "sort of" received CPR training in her class. Officer Peter Liang was convicted last month of manslaughter and official misconduct in the shooting death of Brooklyn man Akai Gurley, and allegedly spent several minutes arguing over whether to alert superiors while Gurley lay dying. Gurley's girlfriend, who herself attempted to resuscitate him with CPR, testified that Liang "was doing nothing the whole time."
Liang, his partner Shaun Landau, and a third officer from their class of recruits all testified during Liang's trial that the CPR training they received from Officer Melissa Brown, 35, of the Recruit Training Section was inadequate. Liang said that his class had been fed the answers to some test questions, and that he had never been trained for CPR with a dummy.
Landau testified that he received about two minutes of CPR training and did not crack the textbooks he was given. John Funk, the third recruit, testified that his CPR class had had 300 students and only one instructor.
The NY Times homed in this week on a particularly damning bit of testimony: Liang said that when he saw Gurley's girlfriend administering CPR—simultaneously taking over-the-phone instructions from a 911 operator—he "thought she was more qualified."
A forensic pathologist testified in court that CPR would not have saved Gurley.
"Under no circumstances will we tolerate any instructor in the New York City Police Department short-circuiting the process for this instruction," NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton told reporters last month. He went on to describe the investigation as "very extensive," adding that all of the officers who took the class are being interviewed "very intimately" about the statements made in court.
According to the Daily News, the CPR training investigation is still underway, and other instructors are being scrutinized.
Liang also testified in court that he "never really touched" his firearm training manual, and that he primarily learned about firearm safety from Powerpoint presentations. However, Bratton did not allude to any investigation into firearm safety training last month.
Scott Rynecki, a lawyer for Gurley's girlfriend, pointed out this discrepancy to the News. "It is clear that it is necessary to have an independent audit done regarding all training that recruits receive at the Police Academy and not just the CPR," he said.
Tagged
Akai Gurley
Bill Bratton
cpr
internal investigation
nypd
Peter Liang
Emma Whitford
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