Warehouse Slay Officer is Indicted

By KATI CORNELL SMITH

June 10, 2004 -- A New York City cop has been indicted in the shooting death of an unarmed African merchant in a Chelsea warehouse last year, sources said.

The officer, Brian Conroy, was indicted for second-degree manslaughter in the May 22, 2003, killing of Ousmane Zongo, 43, in a storage warehouse on West 27th Street.

"The family has been patient in waiting for justice and the grand jury has done justice," said Sanford Rubenstein, the lawyer for the Zongo family.

PBA President Pat Lynch defended Conroy.

"The grand jury made a mistake in indicting the officer," he said. "We are confident that after a trial, when all the facts are out, the officer will be cleared."

Conroy, a four-year NYPD vet, had been guarding a locker filled with counterfeit CDs when he reportedly encountered Zongo, a native of Burkina Faso.

Zongo, who had nothing to do with the police search for counterfeit goods, ran away through the warren of storage lockers, police said. He reached a dead end, where the shots were fired.

Neither Conroy's lawyer nor a spokeswoman for the Manhattan DA's Office would comment on the indictment.