City Pays $2 Million Worth Of I'm Sorry
It was announced yesterday that the [city will pay $2 million] to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Timothy Stansbury, an armed teenager who was shot and killed by officer Richard Neri in a Brooklyn stairwell in January 2004. Neri and his partner were patrolling the roof of the Louis Armstrong Houses in Bedford Stuyvesant, which Stansbury and his two friends were using as a shortcut to another building.
From [1010 WINS]: Neris partner pulled open a rooftop door so that Neri, his gun drawn, could peer inside for any lurking drug suspects, police said. Stansbury startled the officers by appearing at the door and moving toward Neri, who responded with one shot he claimed he fired by accident.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the shooting [appeared to be unjustified], but a grand jury did not indict Neri on criminal charges. A judge at a departmental trial last year recommended that Neri lose 30 vacation days for failing to safeguard the weapon. But Kelly has final say on disciplinary matters, and decided to suspend Neri for 30 days without pay and permanently strip him of his weapon. The victim's mother said the punishment wasnt enough. We wonder how much money the [family of Sean Bell](http://www.nypress.com/blogx/display_blog.cfm?bid=83103597) could potentially reap