Grand jury votes no on indicting cop who shot Noel Polanco
A Queens jury decided against indicting an NYPD detective who shot and killed an unarmed National Guardsman on the Grand Central Parkway last year, according to reports from the Daily News.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement that the grand jury met nine times over the course of a five-week investigation into the death on 22-year-old Noel Polanco and found no evidence of criminal wrong-doing by Detective Hassan Hamdy.
“While I understand that some would want me to provide the factual and legal basis for the grand jury’s decision, I am precluded from doing so by the statutory provisions regarding grand jury secrecy,” Brown said.
Brown said that his office “interviewed all witnesses to that which occurred and examined all available documentary evidence.”
The evidence was presented to the grand jury, which ultimately opted not to indict Hamdy.
Brown notes that the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau and Forensic Investigations Division, “especially its Crime Scene Unit,” cooperated and assisted with his office’s investigation.
Polanco was pulled over for erratic driving in the early hours of October 4. Hamdy fired a shot through the car window, missing a woman in the passenger seat and killing Polanco. Hamdy later said he thought Polanco was reaching for a gun.
No weapons were found in Polanco’s car, though there was a power drill on the floor near his seat.
After the shooting, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly called for the grand jury investigation himself.
