The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.23           June 9, 1997 
 
 
N.Y. Killer Cop Walks  

BY DEBORAH LIATOS
NEW YORK - On May 20, a Queens grand jury decided not to file charges against New York City police detective Richard Soto, who shot and killed José Antonio Sánchez, a 56-year- old immigrant from the Dominican Republic, during a raid on the restaurant where he worked as a cook.

Fifty people gathered in front of the restaurant May 22 to protest the decision. Steven Hoffman, a lawyer for the Sánchez family, said three witnesses from the restaurant told the grand jury that Sánchez had no knife, as the cops claim, when he approached the plain clothes officers to break up what he thought was a fight among patrons.

Protests continue here over other cop brutality cases, including the April 6 killing of 16-year-old Kevin Cedeno. Many were outraged when Anthony Pellegrini, the cop who shot Cedeno, was named "officer of the month" by some of his 33rd Precinct cohorts.  
 
 
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