The mother of Reynaldo Cuevas, the unarmed bodega worker who was killed by a cop while fleeing a botched armed robbery collapsed Sunday after demanding the Bronx district attorney convene a grand jury to examine the tragedy.
Family members grabbed Ana Cuevas after she fainted minutes into a press conference after meeting with Bronx DA Robert Johnson.
AGONY FOR MOM OF BODEGA WORKER KILLED BY COP
For now, only the three bandits have been charged with murder in Cuevas' death, but family lawyer Sanford Rubenstein said the probe should go further to examine whether Officer Ramysh Bangali should also be charged in the early Friday morning incident.
"(Johnson should look at) the issue of criminality with regard to the police officer who shot and killed this young man," said Rubenstein after Cuevas was taken to an upper Manhattan hospital where she was treated and released.
"How do you accidentally pull a trigger?" he asked.
"It is not for the police commissioner to (decide if) this wrongful death was accidental," the lawyer said. "That is for a grand jury of the people of Bronx County to determine."
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said that Reynaldo Cuevas was "accidentally" shot as he ran out of the bodega, where an officer waited with his gun drawn after a report of an armed robbery in progress. Cuevas collided with the cop, whose gun went off either split-seconds before or after the collision.
The timing of the incident is the key, said Fernando Mateo, a spokesman for the Bodega Association of the U.S. and an adviser to the family.
"They believe (Reynaldo)was murdered," Mateo said.
Johnson has said that he will conduct his own investigation.
Mateo said police also held Cuevas' uncle, Alcibiades Cuevas, for several hours and wouldn't let him use the bathroom after the shooting.
"All I want is justice," said Cuevas' brother, Joel. "He was working hard in the store and death came to him. I don't know why?...He should have never died like that."
Cuevas' cousin Newton Pena, 23, said the killing has taken a toll on the entire family, especially Ana Cuevas.
"It's was her youngest son," Pena told the Daily News. "She bought his clothes for his funeral yesterday."
9-11 call of bodega robbery:
911: Do you speak Spanish?
Caller: Yes. Two guys are assaulting a bodega on 169 and Franklin.
911: Do you know the number of the building?
Caller: it's on 169
911: Do you know the name of the bodega?
Caller: it's on the corner. They got the man inside. You need to send the police. 169 and Franklin.
It's in the corner. They have the man inside. You need to send the police here. 169 and Franklin. They are assaulting him. They have him inside at gunpoint.
911: Are they men, women, black or Hispanic?
Caller: Two men ..they have him inside the bodega at gunpoint.
911: Police are on the way. I need to ask you a few more questions. Can you see what they are wearing, the people who are robbing?
Caller: They are inside still.,
911: I understand. Police are on their way. But do you have their description?
Caller: They are Hispanics, 169 and Franklin in the corner is the bodega.
911: Only one has a gun or both?
Caller: Both of them. They have the owner inside at gunpoint. You need to send the police quickly.
911: Ok sir, police are on their way
Caller: 169 in the corner with Franklin right there. The Bodega has the gate half closed.
911: The Gates are down?
Caller: Almost down.
911: Like halfway?
Caller: He was going to close the bodega when they made their way in.
911: Ok sir. If you can tell what they are wearing, let us know...
(call ends)
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario