The cop who shot an unarmed West African immigrant in a Chelsea storehouse last year pleaded not guilty to manslaughter yesterday before both sides grabbed news microphones to condemn or praise the charges.
As the indicted plainclothes Officer Bryan Conroy, 25, was rushed out a back entrance of Manhattan Supreme Court, free on a $20,000 bail bond, his lawyer and police-union brass insisted the four-year veteran would be cleared at trial.
“Obviously my client is very disappointed” by the indictment, defense lawyer Stuart London said, insisting that Conroy shot Ousmane Zongo in self-defense and will be acquitted at trial.
Conroy is charged with recklessly firing four shots into the chest, arm, and left and right sides of Zongo, a 43-year-old Burkina Faso native who was unarmed and had no criminal record.
The two had come face to face on May 22, 2003, at the labyrinthine Chelsea Mini-Storage on West 27th Street.
Conroy was there working for the Staten Island Task Force disguised in a postal carrier uniform. He was guarding a just-seized cache of counterfeit CDs and DVDs.
Zongo had nothing to do with the counterfeit case, but nevertheless ran when he saw Conroy, and the cop gave chase, both sides agree.
But Conroy and prosecutors differ on what happened next. Manhattan prosecutors say Zongo ran only after Conroy pointed his gun at the confused West African. They call the shooting reckless and unjustified, implying that the cop failed to identify himself.
Conroy, in turn, insists he identified himself as a cop repeatedly, wore his shield pinned to his shirt, and fired because he was in a struggle for his life after Zongo, cornered, lunged for his gun.
After police union boss Patrick Lynch relinquished the news mikes, Al Sharpton stepped up, calling the manslaughter charges only a “partial victory” because homicide charges were not filed.