Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has called for a grand jury to investigate the shooting of a 22-year-old unarmed National Guardsman near Laguardia Airport last week.
Before participating in the annual Columbus Day parade on Monday, Kelly commented on the shooting and said, "It will require what I believe to be a grand jury investigation to determine precisely what happened there."
Authorities say Noel Polanco was speeding and driving erratically when he was pulled over by NYPD officers. Police say they saw Polanco reach under the seat when Detective Hassan Hamdy opened fire and shot Polanco once in the stomach.
No weapons were recovered from the vehicle and Polanco died shortly after being taken to New York Hospital Queens.
A passenger in the vehicle said Polanco never reached under his seat.
Since the shooting, Hamdy has been identified in earlier civil rights lawsuits including the 2007 brutality case by a Queens grandmother and her grandson who claimed Hamdy and several other officers performed an illegal search of their home and terrorized them.
Speaking to HuffPost, Polanco's sister Amanda Reyes condemned the police action. "I already lost my father three months ago, and now my brother?" she said. "There's nothing to say. I have nothing to say. I just feel hurt. There's only hurt. They did not have a right. No, they did not have a right."
On Friday, Kelly visited the home of Polanco's mother, Cecilia Reyes, to offer his condolences.
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