NEW YORK — A police officer had just opened fire on a man he thought was a criminal, caught running through a desolate stretch of Harlem with a gun in his hand.
But when paramedics arrived at the scene Thursday and cut through the bloodied clothes, the officers realized the man handcuffed and dying in the street was wearing a police academy T-shirt underneath his street clothes and had a badge in his pocket.
He was a rookie cop chasing down a thief who had just broken into his car.
Now, police are trying to determine whether any disciplinary or legal action will be taken against the officer who fired or whether the victim, Omar J. Edwards, might not have followed proper procedure.
The officer who fired and two others involved were placed on administrative duty during the investigation, and it is too early to say whether anyone was at fault, said police spokesman Paul Browne.
“The matter is under investigation. I’m not going to characterize the shooting in any way,” he said Friday.
The episode once again raised questions about whether the NYPD is too trigger-happy, especially when the targets are black. The officers are white; Edwards was black.
The Rev. Al Sharpton said he got calls shortly after the shooting “from black officers who were at the precinct and were alarmed by the shooting of Omar Edwards.”
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was planning to meet with community leaders and concerned lawmakers during the weekend.
