It has been more than eight years since a New York City police officer shot Constance Malcolm’s son to death as he stood in a bathroom in their home, in the Bronx. Ramarley Graham was eighteen. His grandmother and his younger brother, who was six, were standing nearby at the time. Officers later said they believed that Graham had a gun. But a lengthy search of the apartment revealed no weapon...
When Malcolm spoke to other relatives of victims of police violence, she learned that they, too, had been blocked from seeing officer records because of 50-A. “All the mothers and families I met afterward, they hit the same brick wall,” Malcolm said. “It was the same thing over and over, the same stumbling block, this 50-A. We couldn’t get information unless it was leaked.”
