AS HE faces a deadlocked jury today, embattled Police Of ficer Bryan Conroy wants to make one thing perfectly clear:
“Of course, you have sympathy for the family [of Ousmane Zongo], but let me tell you, the real victim of that sad day is alive,” he said, speaking of himself.
“When he tried to take my gun from me, he did it in the same way we were trained in the Police Academy to disarm somebody.
“I would be interested to know what he did before he came to this country.”
Officer Conroy, 26, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in Zongo’s shooting death in a Chelsea warehouse on May 22, 2003.
“You know the other side [Zongo’s supporters] came into court with dirty looks at me,” Conroy said
“But they weren’t there when it happened. I didn’t get up that morning wanting to shoot someone.
“When he [Zongo] grabbed for the gun, I drew it back just as I was trained. I didn’t shoot till I was certain that he wanted the gun to kill me.”
Conroy was guarding 20,000 pirated DVDs in a sting operation. Zongo was on the scene after two other fellow African nationals had been arrested.
“I have run down a lot of bad guys, and when you say, ‘Police! Don’t move!’ they know the drill. They don’t move. But it was as if this guy had suddenly gone back to doing something he was trained to do. I don’t know whether it was because he faced deportation or what. But he knew what he was doing.”
Conroy added, “It’s almost been two years now and I can take it. But my wife, Nicole, is 5 months pregnant and you can imagine how this is affecting her. My mother had a terribly painful case of shingles brought on by nerves. This is killing my dad.”
Officer Bryan Conroy should not be in this court for simply doing a dangerous job.
You know what boggles my mind? It’s as if the mayor is saying, “Listen, we’re not going pay you much, but at least we’ll try to lock you up.”