COP-KILLER PAROLE
B’klyn car thief shot off-duty officer in ’80
A convicted killer who gunned down an off-duty NYPD officer trying to stop three car thieves in 1980 has been granted parole, it was revealed Thursday, leaving the victim’s family and fellow cops furious.
Paul Ford, 58, one of three men convicted in the Aug. 15, 1980, shooting death of Police Officer Harry Ryman, is scheduled to be released next month despite receiving a life sentence in the case, the Police Benevolent Association tweeted.
“It’s bad enough that this hero family has to live in fear of what might happen when PO Ryman’s killers hit the street,” PBA President Pat Lynch said in a statement on Thursday. “But to swallow that fear while they watch their father’s sacrifice be devalued and disrespected by the state of New York — that is cruel and unusual punishment.”
Another man convicted in the cop’s killing, Barrington Young, 62, was released last year and deported, the records show.
The third convict, Cornelius Bucknor, 59, has been granted a parole hearing, the police union said.
“Honestly, it’s unbelievable,” the slain cop’s granddaughter, Kerri Ryman, said Thursday.
“My heart just breaks for my father and his siblings who have to go through this. It really affects the family.”
Ryman, a 17-year veteran of the NYPD, was home in Brooklyn around 3:40 a.m. when his wife heard the three would-be thieves breaking into a car across the street.
He came outside with his service weapon and exchanged gunfire with the crooks — and was mortally wounded by three shots to the chest.
The three suspects were arrested, and all were later convicted.
Ryman left behind his wife and five children, one of them an NYPD cop.
“They grew up without their father,” a high-ranking police source told The Post.
“These guys got to have visits with their families. You don’t come back from death.”
Cops and relatives have come before the parole board for years to keep all three behind bars — although two have now been paroled.
“I just told them, ‘Harry didn’t have a chance to see his children grow up. He didn’t have an opportunity to see his children get married, and he didn’t get to see his grandchildren,’ ” Phil Ferrante, Ryman’s former partner in the 60th Precinct in Coney Island, said after a 2006 parole board hearing.
According to state corrections officials, Ford had his latest hearing before the parole board on Feb. 9 and was granted parole.
He is due to be released from the Sullivan County Correctional Facility as early as March 23, according to state officials.
All 16 members of the state parole board were either appointed or reappointed by Gov. Cuomo.
The board has released 20 cop killers since 2017, the PBA said.