October 22, 2005
Island cop guilty in fatal shooting
Bryan Conroy faces 4 years in jail for death of Ousmane
Zongo, though acquitted of top count
By JEFF HARRELL
Police Officer Bryan Conroy of Midland Beach was convicted yesterday
of criminally negligent homicide in the shooting of Ousmane Zongo.
Conroy, 27, who claimed he was acting in self-defense when he shot
Zongo, 43, four times in a Manhattan storage warehouse in May 2003,
was acquitted of the more serious charge of manslaughter by Manhattan
Supreme Court Justice Robert Straus.
"Let the message go out to police officers all over this country,
that if you kill an innocent person, you will be held accountable
criminally," Sanford Rubenstein, attorney for the Zongo family,
said after the verdict.
Assistant District Attorney Armand Durastanti argued during the
trial that Conroy was "reckless," and that the shooting
of the unarmed immigrant from the West African nation of Burkina
Faso was "not justified."
Conroy faces up to four years in prison when he is sentenced on
Dec. 2. He would have faced up to 15 years if convicted of second-degree
manslaughter.
Conroy stared straight ahead and showed no emotion when Straus
announced the verdict in the bench trial, which began Sept. 26.
Yesterday's hearing lasted less than 10 minutes and the judge did
not explain his decisions.
Stuart London, Conroy's attorney, expressed disappointment at the
guilty verdict but said he was gratified the judge did not convict
the former Staten Island Task Force police officer of the top charge.
London added that Conroy's NYPD career is, "for all intents
and purposes, now over."
"I am disappointed for [Conroy], who I believe committed no
misconduct," London said. "This sends a difficult message
to police officers who are in a situation where they need to defend
themselves."
In March, a mistrial was declared in Conroy's first trial when
jurors could not come to a unanimous decision but reportedly had
voted 10-2 for conviction.
Zongo's widow, Salimata Sanfo, was present for both trials.
"The family feels good about the verdict," Rubenstein
said. "Now [Ms. Sanfo] can go back to Burkina Faso to tell
her children that their father did nothing wrong, that the police
officer who did this was found guilty.
"And that's what she intends to do."
On May 22, 2003, Conroy was taking part in a Staten Island Task
Force undercover raid on a counterfeit CD and DVD operation at a
self-storage warehouse in Chelsea when he encountered Zongo, who
repaired African art and musical instruments and had a workspace
in the building.
Zongo had nothing to do with the counterfeit operation.
Conroy shot the unarmed African immigrant four times, at least
once in the back, after a chase through the winding hallways of
the warehouse. Zongo died in a hospital several hours later.
In three years as a cop, Conroy was credited with over than 100
arrests without a complaint and had never fired his gun prior to
shooting Zongo. However, less than a year before the shooting, one
of his immediate supervisors issued an internal memo recommending
he be assigned to uniform patrol with senior officers, not undercover
work, because of his lack of experience and maturity.
Reached by phone yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan district
attorney's office said there would be "no comment" on
the judge's decision.
Union officials vehemently criticized the verdict.
"As police officers, we face danger and uncertainty every
time we go to work to protect this city," PBA President Patrick
Lynch said in a statement. "This verdict holds a police officer
criminally responsible for protecting himself, and that has to make
cops wonder if it's worth the risk."
"These tragic circumstances caused the death of an innocent
man, and that is deeply regrettable," Lynch added. "But
it would be a far greater tragedy to allow this city to return to
a crime-ridden state because police officers don't trust the city
to give them the benefit of a doubt when something goes wrong."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a statement that read: "The
death of Ousmane Zongo was a tragedy felt throughout our city, and
today our criminal justice system has spoken. Our thoughts and prayers
go out to his family and friends during this difficult time."
ASSOCIATED PRESS material was used in this report.
Jeff Harrell is a news reporter for the Advance. He may be
reached at Harrell@siadvance.com.
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