New York Daily News

Harlem slay kin fear feds won’t care

- Victoria Bekiempis

THE FAMILY of a mentally ill man who was shot to death by NYPD cops in his Harlem apartment worries President Trump’s Justice Department won’t care about the case.

Relatives of Mohamed Bah (photo inset) — an emotionall­y disturbed man killed by cops in his apartment on Sept. 25, 2012, after his mother, Hawa, called for help — are apprehensi­ve about the department’s treatment of civil rights cases.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently said his department would “pull back” from lawsuits against police department­s — which were common during President Barack Obama’s tenure in the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, Trump fired Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara on March 11.

Bah’s family hopes Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon Kim will do what Bharara did not — before it’s too late.

“We’re hoping that Mr. Kim will take it upon himself before another U.S. attorney is appointed by Mr. Trump — who will probably not be as sympatheti­c to (Hawa Bah’s) cause,” said Bah family lawyer Randolph McLaughlin.

“I have very little faith in Mr. Sessions’ ability to see this issue as an issue that he needs to move on,” added McLaughlin, who reps the Bah family along with lawyer Debra Cohen.

Federal prosecutor­s interviewe­d Hawa Bah for the first time Monday, which she and her lawyer think is a sign of progress, they said.

McLaughlin said the interview was “an initiative — a step that, frankly, Mr. Bharara never took.”

Kim’s office declined to comment.

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States