Ex-cop sent to jail in shooting death of friend
An ex-NYPD cop whose reckless handling of his off-duty firearm led to his best friend’s fatal shooting has been sentenced to one to three years in prison, Bronx prosecutors said Saturday.
Police Officer Martinson Afari Yeboah, 30, pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in the Oct. 20, 2019, shooting death of Frederick Afoakwah inside a West Mosholu Parkway South apartment building. The NYPD fired Yeboah shortly after his arrest in the troubling case.
Supreme Court Justice Ralph Fabrizio sentenced Yeboah on Friday, Bronx prosecutors said.
Yeboah, who at the time of the slaying was assigned to Housing Police Service Area 7 in the Bronx, was playing soccer video games at Afoakwah’s apartment about 5:30 a.m. when his best friend was shot in the neck with the cop’s off-duty firearm.
Yeboah insisted that Afoakwah, 21, was playing with the 9-mm. semiautomatic pistol — which he had left on the table — when the fatal shot was fired, but an autopsy later “showed the gunshot was not self-inflicted,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement.
“Additionally, the defendant did not perform lifesaving measures,” Clark said. “His actions were reckless and inconsiderate.”
After the shot rang out, Afoakwah’s father and cousin came out of their bedroom and saw the victim dying in the living room, prosecutors said. Yeboah told them there was an accident and did not call 911 until Afoakwah’s father urged him to.
Instead Yeboah brought his gun back to his apartment, changed his shoes and went down to the lobby to wait for first responders.
Afoakwah was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, but he could not be saved.
Relatives said Yeboah had planned to wed in November 2019. Afoakwah was supposed to be his best man, the victim’s family said.
Afoakwah attended Borough of Manhattan Community College.
He started studying criminal justice, inspired by Yeboah’s budding NYPD career, relatives told the Daily News after the shooting.