NYPD: Civilian killer group's cover-up of Ryo Oyamada's murder

[aGameOfThrones]

On February 21, 2013, Ryo Oyamada, a 24-year-old from Japan studying in New York City, was struck and killed by Officer Darren Ilardi's NYPD vehicle. According to the police, the squad car was responding to a 911 call and had its emergency lights on. Witnesses, however, said at the time that they were not on, and a lawsuit filed against the department by Oyamada's family alleges a "cover-up." Surveillance video from near the accident, newly obtained by the family's lawyers through a Freedom of Information request, appears to back up those allegations.

Gothamist, which has the footage, reports:

At the 1:35 mark, the headlights of an NYPD cruiser allegedly driven by Officer Ilardi appear in the upper left-hand corner of Camera 1. It speeds out of the right side of the frame at 1:42, after crossing the intersection of 40th Avenue and 10th Street. (This next block is where Oyamada was killed.) Pausing the video at several points appears to show that the cruiser's flashing lights were not on, which is consistent with witness statements to the media and contrary to informal NYPD statements, as well as the police report.

At the 1:45 mark, Camera 1 appears to show the first indication that the NYPD cruiser's flashing lights are on, judging by the reflection of lights on a street sign. This sudden reflection of lights would correspond to witness statements that Officer Ilardi only turned on his flashing lights after colliding with Oyamada.

"The videos were received in highly edited form and have time-stamps that are likely incorrect ... we believe that, at a minimum, these videos cast doubt on the public statements of the New York Police Department to the effect that the vehicle that struck Ryo Oyamada had its emergency lights activated," says attorney Steve Vaccaro.

The video he does have, from the NYC Housing Authority, does not include a view of crash site. "My opinion, as someone who has looked at many videotape extracts taken by the NYPD Collision Investigation Squad, is that this is not normal, that [the NYPD] would cut off the video right before it depicts the crash scene. Usually it's an overgenerous sampling of video," says Vaccaro. The NYPD's version of the footage is not public.

Graphic video from the crash scene shows people nearby lashing out at Officer Ilardi. "You can't to that to us, man," one person screams. "Y'all killed him!" According to Gothamist, "police ordered these witnesses to disperse, and no first-hand witnesses were interviewed for the police report.

Source 1: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...ian-death.html

Source 2:http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/...e_student.html

Source 3:http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1912506

Source 4:http://gothamist.com/2014/08/20/ryo_oyamada_video.php

Officer Ilardi said he was responding to a 911 report of a knife assault somewhere on 12th Street south of 40th Avenue. At the 1:42 mark on Camera 2, several NYPD officers are seen leaving a police van and walking south on 12th Street. Their gait does not suggest any degree of urgency. The 911 call was later determined to be unfounded.

Radio transcripts and other evidence provided by the City suggest that Officer Ilardi was not assigned to the knife disturbance, nor did he tell anyone he was responding to an emergency. In fact, two other NYPD units had already been assigned to the call.

When Officer Ilardi and his partner were interviewed by the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau shortly after the collision, those officers "set about changing the testimony of the sole remaining known eyewitness to the crash other than Ilardi—Ilardi's partner, Police Officer Carman," court filings allege.

[Mani]

This student was road kill. Pretty sickening.

https://www.change.org/p/william-bra...yamada-s-death

If you want to sign up for the petition for investigation. Feel bad for the family living halfway across the world trying to fight for justice, it's hard enough to wade through the bureaucratic system living IN THE U.S., imagine trying to do it across the other side of the globe.

[Mani]

This student was road kill. Pretty sickening.

https://www.change.org/p/william-bra...yamada-s-death

If you want to sign up for the petition for investigation. Feel bad for the family living halfway across the world trying to fight for justice, it's hard enough to wade through the bureaucratic system living IN THE U.S., imagine trying to do it across the other side of the globe.

According to this, he wasn't even responding to a 911 call. Dunking donuts must have been closing at 2AM, gotta make the last call before closing...


http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/...e_student.html

The Oyamada family’s lawyer told Gothamist he believes the tape has been edited to remove the moment of the accident; the version that is in NYPD’s possession has not been made public. Further, the family charges in its recently filed lawsuit that records reveal Officer Ilardi was not even assigned to the 911 call to which NYPD claims he was responding.



No 911 call, and an edited video tape, with no access to the real original one? Man, how low can you get???




http://jspark3000.tumblr.com/post/95...oyamadas-death

Witnesses say the police car had no lights or sirens on and was going over 70 mph. The released footage by NYPD was proven to be heavily altered in a cover-up,




70+mph in a residential area???? Damn.

[Spikender]

The Blue Shield does it's thang while innocent people hang. Another non-cop pushing up daisies and another cover up, this time pancake a la road.

The police are so blatantly corrupt that it's no wonder more and more people are waking up. Now if only we'd take more action to counter this sort of murderous nonsense.

[Mani]

The Blue Shield does it's thang while innocent people hang. Another non-cop pushing up daisies and another cover up, this time pancake a la road.

The police are so blatantly corrupt that it's no wonder more and more people are waking up. Now if only we'd take more action to counter this sort of murderous nonsense.

From the colorlines article it seems like they are getting sick of it in New York:

The case raises still more questions about a culture of lawlessness among police in New York City. In July, Eric Garner, an unarmed black man in Staten Island, was killed when police put him in a chokehold while detaining him for selling untaxed cigarettes. And earlier this month, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara released a 79-page report documenting a “culture of violence” among corrections officers who have abused teenage inmates at the city’s jail on Rikers Island. The report found that more than 4 in 10 male teens in the jail had been subjected to use of force by guards as of October 2012, and that there was a “powerful code of silence” among the jail’s staff that prevented officials from being held accountable for abuse.

[Spikender]

From the colorlines article it seems like they are getting sick of it in New York:

Yes there were protests about Eric Garner's death that are still ongoing I believe and there is more action being taken now than before.

But is it enough?

I hope so. As many people are climbing up to decry the police state, I see a matching amount of apologists flying out of the woodwork to justify it.

Actually, that's a good sign. So much vehement defense means we might be making real headway at last on this issue.