A New York Police Department (NYPD) officer has been charged in the killing of 19-year-old Jamaican Ramarley Graham, in his Bronx, New York home on February 2.

Thirty-one year-old Richard Haste pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges on Wednesday, at his arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court.

Haste was granted US$50,000.

During the arraignment, Bronx prosecutor Donald Levin said the policeman’s decision to fire a single fatal shot into Graham was neither reasonable nor justifiable.

Levin said Haste stood face to face with Ramarley Graham, his weapon pointed directly at the teen, whose grandmother and 6-year-old brother were nearby.

Meanwhile, Defense attorney Stuart London said Haste believed he was about to die when he pulled the trigger.

Graham’s father, Jamaican Franclot Graham, said he was still stunned by the killing.

Police said Haste had chased Graham into his apartment after hearing reports via police radio that he had a gun in his waistband.

Cops said Graham ran when ordered to stop, but surveillance video showed him walking inside his home before plainclothes cops tried to kick their way into the apartment.

radio@gleanerjm.com