 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for biographies .(September 2012) |
Marlon Legere (born October 10, 1975), a Trinidadian-American from New York, is the convicted murderer of NYPD detectives Robert Parker and Patrick Rafferty.
On September 10, 2004, Marlon Legere's mother Melva placed a call to the 67th precinct in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. She was seeking the help of detectives Robert Parker and Patrick Rafferty, whom she knew from earlier incidents with her abusive son. Melva Legere said she feared her son--an unemployed ex-convict who had previously done time in Greene and Sing Sing prisons for sexual assault, attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance, and attempted assault--might try to take her car from her. [1] [2]
Seeing Marlon Legere on East 49th Street sitting in his mother's Mazda 626, the two detectives drove the wrong way down the street and boxed in Legere with their car so he could not drive off. Neither detective was wearing a bulletproof vest. [1]
The detectives exited their vehicle and approached Legere from both sides of his mother's car. Legere somehow obtained Parker's 9 mm Glock and shot both officers four times each, mortally wounding them. Legere would later tell police: "When they tried to grab me, I wouldn't let them. I grabbed their gun and I shot them."
Before passing out, Rafferty managed to shoot Legere in the foot and the ankle. [3] At the same time Parker dialed 911 on his cell phone and was able to calmly describe the situation and identify his attacker to the operator. "I have a photo of the guy who shot me on my dashboard," he said. Both detectives were still alive when ambulances showed up, but did not survive the trip to the hospital. [1] [4]
After being shot by Rafferty, Marlon Legere, still bearing Parker's service weapon, hobbled into the street and carjacked Omar Harvey out of his Mercury Villager minivan. [5] Legere drove twelve blocks to the apartment of a female acquaintance, where he tried to get rid of Parker's gun. Police took him into custody two hours later, when a neighbor saw Legere lying down and bleeding on the apartment's fire escape. Parker's gun was recovered from a lot behind the building. [1]
On September 13, 2004, prosecutors filed first degree murder charges against Legere. When the case went to trial, Legere pleaded not guilty but declined to take the stand in his defense. His attorneys' strategy was to portray the crime as an attempt at self-defense, arguing that Legere thought he was being robbed. The detectives were in plainclothes and driving an unmarked car at the time.
According to defense attorney Ivan Vogel: "It's a combination of self defense and just a tragic situation where the circumstances unraveled ... Mr. Legere was fighting for his life." [3]
The jury deliberated only one day. Legere was convicted on February 2, 2006 and on February 22, 2006, received two life sentences without parole for the first-degree murder charges, 25 years for a first-degree robbery charge, and one year for a fourth-degree criminal mischief charge. [6]
Many New Yorkers, especially police officers, were bitterly disappointed that Legere was not eligible for the death penalty (New York's capital punishment statute had been overturned just three months before). [7]
As of February 2006, Legere is incarcerated in Clinton Correctional Facility, in Dannemora, New York.
No one is entirely sure how Legere was able to take Parker's Glock 19 from him. If the detective had his gun already drawn, Legere may simply have wrestled it away. If not, he might have pulled it from Parker's holster himself. [8] [9] Though the NYPD typically issues its officers retention holsters, it is unknown if Parker was wearing one. [10]
The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, under the jurisdiction of the Chicago City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind the New York City Police Department. As of 2022 CPD had 11,710 sworn officers on duty, and in 2020 had over 948 other employees. Tracing its roots to 1835, the Chicago Police Department is one of the oldest modern police departments in the world.
Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito were former New York City Police Department (NYPD) detectives who committed various illegal activities on behalf of the Five Families of the American Mafia, principally the Lucchese and Gambino crime families. The two subsequently became known as the "Mafia Cops".
Clinton Correctional Facility is a New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision maximum security state prison for men located in the Village of Dannemora, New York. The prison is sometimes colloquially referred to as Dannemora, although its name is derived from its location in Clinton County, New York. The southern perimeter wall of the prison borders New York State Route 374. Church of St. Dismas, the Good Thief, a church built by inmates, is located within the walls. The prison is sometimes referred to as New York's Little Siberia, due to the cold winters in Dannemora and the isolation of the upstate area. It is the largest maximum-security prison and the third-oldest prison in New York. The staff includes about 1,000 officers and supervisors.
In American English, a pocket pistol is any small, pocket-sized semi-automatic pistol, and is suitable for concealed carry in a pocket or a similar small space.
The Miami Police Department (MPD), also known as the City of Miami Police Department, is a full-service municipal law enforcement agency serving Miami, Florida, United States. MPD is the largest municipal police department in Florida. MPD officers are distinguishable from their Miami-Dade Police Department counterparts by their blue uniforms and blue-and-white patrol vehicles.
The killing of Timothy Stansbury Jr. occurred in New York City on January 24, 2004. Stansbury was an unarmed 19-year-old in New York City who was shot and killed by New York Police Department Officer Richard S. Neri Jr. Officer Neri and a partner were patrolling the rooftop of a housing project in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn at about 1 a.m. Officer Neri, with his gun drawn, approached a rooftop door to check the stairway inside. Neri testified to a Brooklyn grand jury that he fired his standard Glock 19 pistol unintentionally when he was startled as Stansbury pushed open the rooftop door. Stansbury, a resident of an adjoining building, died from one shot in the chest. The grand jury found the shooting to be accidental.
A contagious shooting is a sociological phenomenon observed in police personnel, in which one person firing on a target can induce others to begin shooting without knowing why they are firing. The term may have been coined, but certainly rose to prominence in public discourse in the aftermath of the killing of Amadou Diallo by the NYPD in 1999.
Sean Bell, an unarmed African American, was shot and killed by undercover New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers in the borough of Queens on November 25, 2006. Bell and two of his friends were shot when both plainclothes and undercover NYPD officers fired a total of 50 rounds. Bell's friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, were severely wounded. The incident sparked fierce criticism of the New York City Police Department from members of the public and drew comparisons to the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo. Three of the five detectives involved in the shooting went to trial on charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter, first- and second-degree assault, and second-degree reckless endangerment; they were found not guilty.
The Milwaukee Police Department is the police department organized under the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The department has a contingent of about 1,800 sworn officers when at full strength and is divided into seven districts. Jeffrey B. Norman is the current chief of police, serving since December 2020.
Russel Timoshenko was a 23-year-old New York Police Department (NYPD) police officer who was shot on July 9, 2007, and died five days later, after pulling over a stolen BMW automobile in New York City's Crown Heights, Brooklyn, neighborhood. After a four-day manhunt that stretched across three states, all three suspects Dexter Bostic, Robert Ellis and Lee Woods were eventually apprehended and convicted—two of murder, and the third for weapons possession. At his widely attended funeral, Timoshenko was posthumously promoted to the rank of Detective. The case garnered national media attention because the weapons used were all illegally obtained handguns. This sparked widespread debate over gun control laws in New York City, and over the process by which firearms are traced by police departments.
Throughout the history of the New York City Police Department, numerous instances of corruption, misconduct, and other allegations of such, have occurred. Over 12,000 cases resulted in lawsuit settlements totaling over $400 million during a five-year period ending in 2014. In 2019, misconduct lawsuits cost the taxpayer $68,688,423, a 76 percent increase over the previous year, including about $10 million paid out to two exonerated individuals who had been falsely convicted and imprisoned.
The 1972 Harlem mosque attack occurred on April 14, 1972, when a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer was shot and fatally wounded at the Nation of Islam Mosque No. 7 in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, United States. The officer responded to a fake emergency call, but was shot and died from his wounds six days later. The incident sparked political and public outcry about mishandling of the incident by the NYPD and the administration of Mayor John V. Lindsay.
Albert A. Seedman was an officer with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for 30 years, known for solving several high-profile cases before resigning as chief of the Detective Bureau. He was the only Jewish officer to ever hold that position. After his retirement he was the chief of security for a New York area department store chain before retiring to South Florida.
On September 29, 2013, motorist Alexian Lien was assaulted while driving on the Henry Hudson Parkway in New York City. Lien had gotten into an altercation earlier in the day with motorcyclists who were participating in a rally called Hollywood's Block Party. One of the bikers pulled in front of Lien and slowed dramatically. Lien said that he struck the bike from behind, stopped his vehicle, and was quickly surrounded by bikers, who began attacking his SUV. He testified that he feared for his life. Lien accelerated, driving his SUV over Edwin Mieses, paralyzing him, and also running over several motorcycles. Lien then fled the scene in his SUV. A chase ensued, which ended in Lien being pulled from his vehicle and beaten. The media later reported that the involved bikers were members of a loose association of high-performance motorcycle enthusiasts known as "Hollywood Stuntz" who had previously been observed and filmed engaging in reckless driving and threatening motorists.
Randy Jurgensen is a former American NYPD detective, best known as the lead investigator into the murder of patrolman Phil Cardillo as well as his contribution as a consultant on various film and TV projects.
Akai Gurley, a 28-year-old black man, was fatally shot on November 20, 2014, in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, by a New York City Police Department officer. Two police officers, patrolling stairwells in the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)'s Louis H. Pink Houses in East New York, Brooklyn, entered a pitch-dark, unlit stairwell. Officer Peter Liang, 27, had his firearm drawn. Gurley and his girlfriend entered the seventh-floor stairwell, fourteen steps below them. Liang fired his weapon; the shot ricocheted off a wall and fatally struck Gurley in the chest. A jury convicted Liang of manslaughter, which a court later reduced to criminally negligent homicide.
On December 20, 2014, Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley shot and killed Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu — two on-duty New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers — in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Brinsley then fled into the New York City Subway, where he killed himself. Earlier in the day, before he killed Ramos and Liu, Brinsley had shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend Shaneka Thompson in Baltimore after initially pointing the gun at his own head.
The murder of Brian Moore, a New York City police officer, took place on May 2, 2015, in Queens, New York, where he was shot. Moore died two days later at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, at the age of 25. His partner, Erik Jansen, was shot at but escaped injury. Demetrius Blackwell was arrested in connection with the shooting, and was formally charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and other charges. On December 19, 2017, Blackwell was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.
The killing of Ramarley Graham took place in the borough of the Bronx in New York City on February 2, 2012. Richard Haste, a New York Police Department officer, shot Graham in the bathroom of the latter's apartment. The 18-year-old Graham was in possession of marijuana when Officer Haste tried to stop him on the street. Graham fled to his grandmother’s house, and went into the bathroom to flush the marijuana. Officer Haste forced his way into the building, kicked down the front door and then broke down the bathroom where he shot Ramarley Graham to death. Haste could be seen on surveillance cameras smiling and laughing with the responding officers and detectives—the same men who would later testify they had told Haste that Graham had a gun. Haste claimed to believe Graham had been reaching for a gun in his waistband, but no weapon was recovered.
On March 25, 2024, New York Police Department (NYPD) officer Jonathan Diller was shot while conducting a traffic stop in Far Rockaway, Queens. He was subsequently transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he died due to his injuries.