Police revealed the identity of the 22-year-old man killed in yesterday’s shootout near P.S. 194 in Gerritsen Beach: George D’Amato Jr., the son of a retired court officer.
His father, George D’Amato Sr., told the New York Post:
His devastated dad, George D’Amato Sr., said his son — who “had minor scrapes with the law, nothing serious” — worked at a Duane Reade, but yesterday told him “he wanted a day off.”
“I told him to go to work,” said the father, a former court officer.
“I am retired law-enforcement myself. I know what it’s like. I can’t blame the officer. He did what he had to do,” the dad said.
Over at GerritsenBeach.net they’ve dug up D’Amato’s police record, which appears to be a history of minor property damage and fights. All told, the residents of the community who frequent the site – some of who knew D’Amato – appear to agree the police officer did what he had to do. But always eager to find something to rabidly bicker about, commenters turned to discussing whether the kid “got what he deserved.” Your thoughts?
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what if this kid was anything but white would this be front page news everywhere and would al (not that sharp) sharpton be walking down knapp right now.
NOt happy with that comment ” He got what he deserved ” at all. How dare any member of this community say such a thing. We thrive on being a family but when one person does something wrong then he or she is out there alone. My heart goes out the the family of George Jr. RIP
Yea, isn't it amazing how the father, as angry and distraught as he is, DOESN'T blame the cop for what happened? It's totally amazing. Aside from his own history in law enforcement I wonder what the difference is between him and other similar situations in recent years. I'll give you one guess.
This is terrible for everyone: the victim, his family, the police officer, his family, the precinct, and law enforcement, in general. A very sad day for the neighborhood.
It's a good thing that there were not a lot of people around. There has got to be an alternative to guns. I guess shooting someone in the leg is no longer standard practice.
It's more about using lethal force. You don't shoot to maim. If you are shooting, it is to kill, full stop. If you just wanted to distract them, you'd use a stun gun, right? Or rubber bullets. Something like that. Pepper spray. But when it is life or death, then you take their life before someone dies.
It's because the father was in law enforcement. There are as many whites as minorities with a sense of entitlement. Goodness knows you see enough of it on the internet.
Ray – put yourself in the officer's place. You know 2 facts at that moment, 1. there is a man with a gun, and 2. he is pointing that gun at you. That man needs to be stopped immediately before he can shoot off the first round. Most gunfights last only seconds.
I pity the officer, especially once he found out the gun was a toy. He did the right thing. Next time it'll be a psycho with a real gun outside a school and he'll need to be stopped just as fast.
Pretty much
John, I just can't help thinking about that poor young man. I wonder what he was trying to do with that toy gun and what went through his mind at that brief moment when the police showed up. He must have been panicking.
I think its quite fair to say that we all pity the young man, some more and some less.
I think his mental history should be made public so the people who've been affected by this can decide for themselves just how much responsibility he had in this situation. If he had some illness, then because of his diminished ability his death would feel much more tragic.
However, if he was otherwise typical, then he becomes nothing more than proof that at 22 you are no longer a child and your actions as an adult have real, permanent consequenses.
daily news made the kid look pretty bad in todays paper.
sad article….
“got what he deserved.” – ????
it is wrong to say so!