Mother Of National Guardsman Killed By Police To Meet With Queens D.A.; Al Sharpton To Speak At Funeral

Cecilia Polanco, the mother of 22-year-old National Guardsman Noel Polanco — who was unarmed when he was gunned down by an NYPD sergeant last week — will meet with the Queens District Attorney, a spokesman for the woman says.

Queens D.A. Richard Brown said last week that his office already is investigating the seemingly senseless shooting, and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly says a grand jury will have to determine exactly what happened when Sergeant Hassan Hamdy shot the unarmed guardsman.

Additionally, Reverend Al Sharpton is slated to speak at Polanco’s funeral, which will be held tomorrow.

As we reported in prior posts, here’s what we know about the shooting: there were two police vans full
of cops who pulled over Polanco last Thursday. He had no weapon at the
time of the shooting, and witnesses say he had his hands on the
steering wheel the entire time.

Additionally, two witnesses —
one of whom is an NYPD officer who claims she was sleeping in the back
of Polanco’s car at the time of the shooting — say that immediately
after the shooting, officers at the scene told them “your friend shot
himself.”

Despite the small army of cops on the scene, and the
fact that Polanco had no visible weapon — or any weapon at all, it
turns out — Hamdy, a 14-year NYPD veteran, claims he feared for his life; he says he was
justified in shooting Polanco and is “eager” to tell his side of the
story.

“We’ll
cooperate with the grand jury and the detective is looking forward to
relating his version of events,” Hamdy’s attorney, Philip Karasyk, told
CBS 2.

He goes on to say that Hamdy “felt threatened and was left with no other alternative other than the actions that he took.”

According
to witness Diane DeFerrari, who was sitting in the passenger seat of
Polanco’s car when Hamdi fired the fatal shot, the actions taken by
police included several NYPD officers — including Hamdy — jumping out
of a van with their rifles drawn when Polanco pulled over to the side of
the road after weaving through traffic, angering the officers

She
says that as the officers ordered Polanco to put his hands up, Hamdy shot him in the torso.

“There was no time to put your hands up at all. They shot in front of my face,” DeFerrari tells the NY Post. “Had I moved an inch, it would
probably have been me.”

She maintains that Polanco’s hands
stayed on the steering wheel the entire time, despite claims by police
that he reached under the seat.

DeFerrari describes the incident
as an act of police “road rage” — she says the officers in the two vans,
which she claims were unmarked, were mad when Polanco cut them off.

“They
tried to run us off the road,” DeFerrari said earlier this week. “They [police]
were shouting obscenities and the driver was sticking his middle
finger out at us,” she continued. “Noel sped up to get away from the
car.
There were no sirens, just lights. I told Noel to stop the car, but we
caught a clearing and took off.”

Then, she says, after Polanco pulled
over, several NYPD officers jumped out of the van — guns drawn — and
Hamdy shot Polanco as his hands were on the wheel in plain sight.

Polanco’s mother will meet with Brown later today.