Natalia Harding, whose son was shot by a fellow New York City Police officer who mistook him for a thug, wants the shooter behind bars. She believes her son, Officer Omar Edwards, was killed because he is African American. Andrew Dunton, the officer who shot her son three times, including once in the back, is White. “I would like to see him go to jail,” said Harding. “He is going to go out and do the same thing again, and I don’t want another parent to suffer what I am going through.” Edwards, 25, was off duty and dressed in street clothes when he drew his gun and chased a man who had broken into his car in East Harlem. The police department contends that it is a case of “friendly fire” and that Edwards did not identify himself when confronted by Dunton and two other officers. Police victims’ advocate Rev. Al Sharpton, head of the Harlem-based National Action Network, told TV station NY1 that Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau has not told the family whether a grand jury has been convened. “It’s like it’s sweeped up under the rug,” Harding said.

The man whose alleged crime led to a New York cop’s shooting death by another cop is speaking up. But it’s not to claim any responsibility or to apologize to Omar Edwards’ family. Miguel Goitia, 42, is in custody at Riker’s Island after he was arrested May 28 for breaking into Edwards’ car. Read more.

You might not be a criminal, but if your Black or Latino that minor detail most likely won’t keep you from getting stopped by the NYPD. In fact, says the Center for Constitutional Rights, about 80 percent of the record half-million citizens who get stopped by New York City officers are either Black or Latino. And the vast majority of those stopped between 2005 and 2008 weren’t even charged with a crime, the center says in a new report. “The New York City Police Department continues to prey on African-American and Latino communities in New York City,” Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said. After tallying half of the data from 2008, the center projects that at its current pace, 543,982 people will be stopped over the entire year at this pace. “The problem actually is getting worse,” CCR lawyer Darius Charney said. But Commissioner Paul Browne, of the NYPD, said the number of Blacks and Latinos pulled over parallels the percentage offered by victims and witnesses of crime.

Figures show Black men are being harassed. The NYPD apparently is up to its old tricks. A report released this week shows the department stopped a record number of Blacks and Hispanics fin 2006, according to figures gathered by Newsday. Despite criticism about overly aggressive tactics, the NYPD appears headed toward stopping and questioning a record number of people this year, the newspaper’s investigation shows. The department in 2006 stopped 508,540 people – up dramatically from 97,296 stops in 2002. The findings have sparked a wave of criticism that minorities, particularly Black and Hispanic men, are being singled out and harassed by police. The total dropped to 468,932 last year, but in the first quarter of this year, 145,098 people were stopped – the highest quarterly total since the NYPD has kept those numbers.

Undercover N.C. cops Taser man at his father’s funeral.  Five Wilmington, N.C.-area sheriff’s deputies face disciplinary actions for using a Taser on a man as he served as a pallbearer at his father’s funeral, a North Carolina sheriff said Wednesday. Gladwyn Taft Russ III was serving as a pallbearer at the Saturday service and was loading his father’s casket into a hearse when the undercover deputies approached him, according to authorities. Relatives said two deputies, dressed in coats and ties, grabbed Russ and kneed him in his back before using a Taser on him. As they approached Russ, one of the deputy’s gun fell out of its holster, witnesses reported. “Everybody was so scared. We thought it was a drug deal gone bad,” said Ronnie Simmons, another pallbearer and Russ’ brother-in-law. “We almost dropped the casket.” Russ, 42, had failed to surrender after being charged with threatening his ex-wife, who lives in another state. After his father died on Nov. 11, Russ agreed to surrender to authorities after the funeral. When deputies approached Russ, he “went wild” and spat on the officers, Chief Deputy Ed McMahon said. New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey told The Star-News of Wilmington that five of the officers involved would be disciplined, although he wouldn’t say what punishment they would face. “I apologize to anyone that was there,” Causey said. “Family, friends, relatives. … That was a bad decision.” Russ was charged with assault on a government official, resisting an officer, disorderly conduct and felony malicious conduct by a prisoner.