A Killing in Brooklyn

To the Editor: In your coverage of the exoneration of the officer involved
in the shooting of Patrick M. Dorismond (news articles, July 28 and 30), you
note that four unarmed black men have been killed by New York police
officers in the last 13 months. You do not mention the similarities with the
killing of Gidone (Gary) Busch, an observant Jew in Borough Park, Brooklyn,
who was shot and killed in front of his apartment by at least six police
officers.

In both cases, the mayor and the police commissioner repeatedly laid the
blame on the victim, castigating both Gary and Mr. Dorismond as aggressors.
In each incident, the true instigators were the police -- either through a
belligerent buy-and-bust operation or, in Gary's case, the use of aggressive
tactics on a man who witnesses say posed no threat.

These two cases, along with the failed Diallo prosecution, demonstrate that
federal intervention is our best hope for justice.

ANDREW STETTNER, DORIS BUSCH -BOSKEY
New York, July 30, 2000 - The writers are, respectively, executive director
of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and the mother of Gidone Busch.