Career Criminal and Judge Both Culprits in Police Officer's Death

New York City Police are in the midst of coping with a tragic loss to their department that occurred on Monday morning, when 22-year veteran Officer Peter Figoski was killed by Lamont Pride.  Figoski, the 47-year old father of four daughters, died after being shot in the face when responding to a robbery call in the violent East New York section of Brooklyn.  What makes the case even more devastating is that Pride had been arrested numerous times, and was wanted by police in North Carolina on outstanding felony charges.

After Pride shot Figoski in cold blood, he was then chased down and apprehended by Figoski’s partner, Officer Glenn Estrada.  A second suspect got away and remains at large.  In their first article, NBC describes the second suspect as: “5 feet, 7 inches tall and 25 to 30 years old” and then describes the clothing he was wearing.  Following policy exhibited by the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and many others, NBC chose not to mention the suspect’s race and ethnicity.  Three more arrests are expected to be announced in connection with the incident, which police are now referring to as a “drug robbery conspiracy gone bad.”

Pride had been arrested as recently as November 3rd in Coney Island on drug possession and other misdemeanor charges.  In a brazen and costly move, Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Evelyn Laporte released Pride without setting bail, despite his outstanding warrant.  According to Court spokesman David Bookstaver: “It is unclear why the judge let him go.”

Judge Laporte, who back in 2006 vowed to, “make sure that I keep my community safe,” now has the blood of a decorated police officer on her hands.  Perhaps the Judge was just having an off day, or maybe she was considering New York’s overcrowded prison system when deciding to let Pride roam free.  However, there may be another motive at work.  Perhaps she just didn’t want to put another black man behind bars.  After all, when being sworn in on January 26 2005, Judge Laporte described herself as a black Latina woman who appreciates the diversity of New York, and then stated: “My service as a judge will be informed by and reflect who I am.”

What did Laporte mean by the above statement??  Is all of this the result of a fundamentally flawed justice system, or is their a racial element as well?  There are no definite answers, for now.  Either way, the end result of Judge Laporte’s leniency in letting a violent black criminal walk is a dead New York City police officer (who happened to be white) and four daughters who now have to live the rest of their lives without a father.