NEW YORK — New York Metropolis police apologized for mistakenly accusing a teen of a deadly taking pictures at a Brooklyn parade, then failing to retract the false allegation for almost 5 months, regardless of realizing it was incorrect.
In an announcement despatched to information shops Sunday, the NYPD mentioned a picture it circulated on social media of Camden Lee, a 15-year-old Brooklyn resident, “mistakenly acknowledged that he was wished for the deadly taking pictures” on the West Indian American Day Parade in September.
“The NYPD ought to have instantly corrected this misstatement,” added the division’s chief spokesperson, Delaney Kempner. “We apologize for the error and can proceed to hunt justice for the victims of this taking pictures.”
The apology adopted reporting by The Related Press on the NYPD’s monthslong refusal to retract the allegation, which spurred dying threats towards {the teenager} and questions concerning the division’s insurance policies for correcting misinformation.
Even after police quietly deleted their on-line accusations and privately conceded that Lee was not a suspect within the killing, the division had beforehand refused to stroll again the allegation, ignoring determined pleas from Lee’s household.
In its up to date assertion, the police division mentioned Lee was a “individual of curiosity” within the taking pictures, which stays unsolved, since he was “on the scene earlier than, throughout, and after the incident.”
They didn’t elaborate on why Lee was recognized amongst 1000’s of others at or close to the crowded scene or why the error was not fastened earlier.
“Even of their apology, they’re portray him with a brush of culpability to cowl their mistake,” mentioned Wylie Stecklow, an lawyer for Lee’s household. “They’re downplaying what they did and never proudly owning as much as the truth that they put him in hurt’s approach.”
Stecklow mentioned the household nonetheless had not heard from police straight.
Lee, a highschool sophomore, mentioned he had attended the Labor Day celebration after leaving soccer follow with a teammate. Minutes after they arrived, gunfire erupted alongside the route, killing 25-year-old Denzel Chan and wounding 4 others, together with Lee’s teammate.
Practically three weeks after the taking pictures, police shared {a photograph} of Lee on X and Instagram accusing him of murder. They extensively circulated the picture to information shops, which continued repeating the false allegation lengthy after police had privately acknowledged it was unfaithful.
In line with an lawyer for the household, Lee met with murder detectives days after the preliminary social media posts and was informed he was not a suspect within the killing, however was being hunted for questioning about what he had witnessed.
Within the 5 months for the reason that preliminary allegation, Lee has acquired quite a few dying threats which have pushed his household into hiding, forcing him to go away town and miss college for weeks at a time.
“It takes me to a darkish place,” Lee informed the AP. “I don’t really feel like myself anymore. I don’t have the chance to clarify my aspect of the story. Everyone seems to be so fastened on this one picture of me: assassin.”
