Officers Who Shot Diallo Won’t Be Punished, Commissioner Says

The four police officers who fatally shot unarmed Amadou Diallo will not be punished, Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said Friday.

However, the officers, who fired 41 times during the incident, will not be allowed to carry their guns or badges, meaning they will be on nonenforcement duty, Kerik said. They will serve without their weapons until Kerik determines they are fit for regular duty.

The officers will not undergo retraining in tactics and firearm use, Kerik said.

“This decision does not minimize in any way my sympathy for the Diallo family. . . . The death of their son . . . was in all respects a terrible, terrible tragedy,” he said.

Kerik accepted the recommendations of two police investigative panels, concluding that the officers acted within departmental guidelines. The panels said the officers believed their lives were in danger because they thought Diallo had a gun. The 22-year-old West African immigrant had been holding his wallet.

The four officers--Kenneth Boss, 29, Sean Carroll, 38, Edward McMellon, 29, and Richard Murphy, 28--were acquitted of criminal charges last year. Earlier this year, the Justice Department declined to pursue a civil rights case against them. The officers still face an $81-million civil lawsuit filed by Diallo’s family.

Kerik’s decision means the officers are free to resume their police careers. Since the Feb. 4, 1999, shooting, all four have been on desk duty with their guns and badges taken away. Boss and Carroll have said they wish to remain on the force, while McMellon and Murphy have applied to the Fire Department.

The shooting severely strained relations between the police and the city’s black community and sparked wild protests and allegations of endemic police brutality.