Former New York policeman sentenced to probation, community service in stairwell shooting case

A former New York police officer will not serve time in prison after a Brooklyn judge on Tuesday reduced the conviction from manslaughter to criminally negligent homicide.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun sentenced Peter Liang, a former NYPD police officer of Chinese descent, to five years of probation and at least 800 hours community service over the death of Akai Gerley.

Liang was previously convicted in February of manslaughter in the accidental shooting death of Gerley in a pitch-dark stairwell in 2014. He is the first policeman from the New York Police Department to be convicted of homicide in the shooting of a civilian since 2005.

The reduced sentencing came after a massive rally in more than 30 U.S. cities in February over the manslaughter conviction which protests believed was too harsh and unfair to Liang.

A ricocheted bullet from Liang's service weapon accidentally killed Gurley when he was patrolling in a housing project in the New York City borough of Brooklyn in November 2014. Enditem