Brooklyn DA: Judge should have given Liang house arrest

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson says he feels the judge should have followed his recommendation for house arrest for ex-NYPD officer Peter Liang. Despite that, he says no prison time was the

News 12 Staff

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Apr 21, 2016, 6:38 AM

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Updated 3,158 days ago

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson says he feels the judge should have followed his recommendation for house arrest for ex-NYPD officer Peter Liang.

Despite that, he says no prison time was the right call.

The former officer was sentenced to five years' probation and 800 hours of community service for the 2014 shooting death of Akai Gurley at the Pink Houses.

Akai Gurley's family say they are furious. They want Liang to serve time for taking the life of their loved one, even if it wasn't intentional.

Supporters of the Gurley family says they see the DA's sentence recommendation for no prison time as a reason the charges were lowered against Liang from manslaughter to criminally negligent homicide.

Thompson says he disagrees with the judge on the lesser charge.

He also dismissed that he helped an officer get away with killing an unarmed black man. Thompson says it wasn't police brutality, and that it was a separate case.

"If you look at what happened, this wasn't an intentional shooting, this was an accident, this was a tragedy and Peter Liang is going to be a convicted felon for the rest of his life," he said.

After the sentencing, some protesters stood outside Thompson's home. Extra police were stationed near his home as a precaution.

Thompson didn't speak on camera about the protesters outside his home, but sent a statement, saying that the harassment of his family Wednesday morning would not deter him "from doing what's right."