Brooklyn, NY – Eudes Pierre’s family, friends, and supporters filled the room at the Eastern Parkway library, March 1, for the New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression’s (NYAARPR) event, kicking off their new campaign to demand justice for Eudes Pierre.

Eudes Pierre, a 26-year-old Haitian American man was murdered by the NYPD on December 20, 2021, while experiencing a mental health crisis. Pierre had called the police, in clear distress, and when the police arrived, they followed him into and out of the subway station, and then shot him ten times. Despite the fact that police officers were aware that Pierre was experiencing a mental health crisis, they engaged him with extreme force and had tased him multiple times before shooting him.

Pierre’s family has remained steadfast in their demand for justice and accountability, and in their determination to never let this happen again. The family successfully fought to have the street where Pierre grew up named after him and are fighting to implement the Eudes Pierre Law, which would replace police offers with trained peers when it comes to mental health crisis intervention.

The NYPD, the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), and the New York attorney general’s office, however, have all played a part in denying justice for Eudes Pierre. When the NYPD murdered Pierre, the attorney general’s office, which had initially promised to investigate and hold the officers accountable, declined to press charges against the shooters, and the CCRB shamefully found the killing to be “within NYPD guidelines.”

The New York Alliance is demanding “Fire and prosecute the cops who killed Eudes Pierre! Police out of mental health responses! Community control of the police now!

Pierre’s cousin, Sheina Banatte, spoke at Saturday’s campaign launch event on behalf of the Justice for Eudes Coalition, alongside Reverend Kevin McCall of the Crisis Action Center, and Sharif Hall, Treasurer for NYAARPR.

When asked what justice for Eudes Pierre looks like, Banatte explained, “true justice would be for Eudes to be here with us now. Second to that, the next highest form would be accountability.” Banatte also said that the campaign for the Eudes Pierre Law is another way to achieve some measure of justice.

“We want to transform how this city does mental health crisis response, so that nobody else gets killed like this. That is another kind of justice,” stated Banatte.

Sharif Hall added, “Eric Adams is also to blame, for continually increasing the police budget, and for working with the police commissioner to prevent any and all accountability.” Sharif also mentioned the case of Caesar Robinson, another Brooklyn-resident who was murdered in his own home by the police, after calling them himself because he thought he was being burglarized. Cases like these clearly show the need for community control over the NYPD.

Rev. McCall discussed a prior, five-day community patrol pilot program that his organization implemented in Brownsville, New York, in which community members responded to calls for assistance, rather than police. This example shows that “community control can happen, if we are organized enough to make it happen.” Rev. McCall also emphasized the importance of staying engaged in community activism, and the need to keep the pressure on elected officials.

Sheina closed out the event with a demand for more investment in community resources, for police to be removed from mental health crisis response, for more police accountability, and for justice for Eudes Pierre.

There will be an event to demand #PeersNotPolice on March 24, and a protest against New York State Attorney General Letitia James on March 31, to mark the two-year anniversary of her decision not to press charges against the officers who murdered Eudes.

#BrooklynNY #NY #InJusticeSystem #PoliceCrimes #KillerCops #NAARPR