Willie Groomes, the retired corrections officer who shot Gilbert Drogheo to death in the Borough Hall subway station on March 10, has been cleared of criminal charges and will not face a grand jury, the Daily News reports. He was previously not indicted by the Brooklyn DA last month.
“’Following a full and fair investigation…I have determined that criminal charges are not warranted in this matter,’ Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson said in a statement.
‘Based on interviews of multiple eyewitnesses to the events leading up to the shooting, our review of videotapes of the shooting itself and other evidence, I have decided not to put this case into the grand jury and will not bring criminal charges against Mr. Groomes,’ he added.”
Groomes, who retired from the Department of Corrections in 1993 after serving for 18 years, killed Drogheo after Drogheo and a friend, Joscelyn Evering, disrespected him on a train. Groomes then pursued Drogheo up a flight of stairs, continuing the scuffle, and then shot him with his licensed handgun. The shooting was recorded by a bystander.
“While the death of this young man was indeed tragic, we cannot prove any charge of homicide beyond a reasonable doubt,” Thompson said.
This is a truly astonishing miscarriage of justice. Even Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo went before a grand jury before not being indicted. It remains unclear why, exactly, why Groomes has received such preferential treatment.
(Photo: David Boyle)
