Ramarley Graham’s mom spent her fifth Mother’s Day without her son — and wondering if Mayor de Blasio will ever move to boot the cop who killed him.
Graham, 18, was unarmed when he was shot to death in February 2012 by an officer after being pursued to his Bronx home.
“It’s sad, because I had three kids, and only two are with me. You try and celebrate, but you wonder how things would be if he was here. And that’s the hardest part — who he could have been, how things could have turned out,” said his mother, Constance Malcolm. “We’ll never know, because these officers never gave him the chance.”
Malcolm has been pushing de Blasio to fire Officer Richard Haste, who shot Graham, and to sit down with her to discuss the case.
RAMARLEY GRAHAM’S MOM URGES DE BLASIO TO FIRE COPS WHO SHOT TEEN
But de Blasio said last week it would be inappropriate to meet with her while the NYPD disciplinary process is ongoing.
“There’s a whole bunch of corruption with all of them. They are covering for these officers,” Malcolm said of de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
“All I want is justice for my son. The local system already failed me, the (Department of Justice) failed me, and my last resort is getting these officers fired,” she said.
Malcolm says the city will not even hand over the names of all the cops who were present at the time of the incident.
De Blasio said last week the NYPD’s process is pending.
“Once there is disciplinary action underway by an agency that I have ultimate responsibility for, it is not appropriate to meet with the family members,” he said.
“What happened to Ramarley Graham was obviously a tragedy, and my heart goes out to the family. And there will be, because now the Justice Department has concluded its activities, there will be a disciplinary process by the NYPD, and that has been made very clear to the Graham family,” Hizzoner said.
Malcolm said she has some advice for de Blasio.
“The mayor keeps saying he wants to bridge the gap between the community and the police. A good way of starting is firing these officers,” she said. “The least he could do is sit down and tell me what’s going on.”
After a federal investigation, the Manhattan U.S. attorney opted not to prosecute Haste, saying there was insufficient evidence to meet the high bar for a federal civil rights case.
Previously, a Bronx grand jury indicted the cop, but the charges were thrown out by a judge, and a second grand jury declined to indict. Haste remains on the force.
“These officers don’t belong in our communities,” Malcolm said.