GRAND JURY CLEARS DRUG DETECTIVE WHO KILLED UNARMED SECURITY GUARD

A grand jury has declined to file criminal charges against the
undercover narcotics detective who fatally shot Patrick M. Dorismond,
an unarmed security guard, during a desperate, two-minute brawl in
March in front of a Midtown Manhattan bar, prosecutors said yesterday.
The Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, said the grand
jury decided not to indict the detective, Anthony Vasquez, after
concluding that the shooting -- a single bullet fired from a
9-millimeter pistol, at a range so close that the barrel was touching
Mr. Dorismond's clothing -- was not intentional.

The jurors also heard evidence that Mr. Dorismond had thrown the first
punch as a dispute with three detectives escalated into disorder, and
that Mr. Dorismond had seized and was twisting Detective Vasquez's
shooting hand when the gun fired, Mr. Morgenthau said.

Mr. Dorismond, the son of Haitian immigrants and the father of two
young daughters, was the fourth unarmed black man to die at the hands
of the police during a 13-month period. His death created a public
uproar and became an issue in the race for the United States Senate
before Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani bowed out.

It came just weeks after the acquittal of officers who had killed
another unarmed black man, Amadou Diallo, and Mr. Giuliani, who called
Mr. Dorismond no "altar boy" even as the investigation was just
starting, was widely criticized for allowing police officials to
release the dead man's juvenile criminal record and for failing to
meet with his family. The controversy intensified after protestors
clashed violently with the police at Mr. Dorismond's funeral.

Politics aside, the case also brought scrutiny on the public risks
inherent in police buy-and-bust operations, in which teams of
undercover detectives randomly approach people on the street and try
to buy illegal drugs.

Mr. Dorismond, 26, was not a drug dealer. He had completed a shift as
a 34th Street Partnership security guard an hour and a half before he
died. To police critics and to Mr. Dorismond's family, his death was a
symbol of a department whose aggressive tactics and appetite for
ever-climbing arrest statistics led detectives to draw a young man
into a scuffle that led to his killing.

Mr. Morgenthau's office exercises considerable control over the grand
jury process, including the evidence heard and the charges considered,
and he acknowledged the political tension surrounding the case
yesterday. But the district attorney said the jurors had acted
conscientiously and fairly after reviewing 42 exhibits and hearing
from 24 witnesses, including Detective Vasquez, during a four-week
session.

He urged the public to accept its decision. "Some people may be
disappointed that this investigation has not resulted in an
indictment," he said. "I understand that."

He quickly added: "The grand jury is not a forum for the expression of
political views or the resolution of policy disputes. To allow it to
be used for those purposes would simply layer an injustice upon a tragedy."

Detective Vasquez, 30, who could still face departmental discipline or
federal charges in the shooting, could not be reached for comment last
night. His lawyer, Philip Karasyk, issued a brief statement and then
said that Detective Vasquez felt as if "a tremendous weight has been
lifted from his and his family's shoulders."

"There is no joy in this decision," he said. "Only
relief."

Mr. Karasyk also expressed hope that the city and its police force
could now find common ground and mutual respect. That seemed unlikely,
as critics vowed to organize protests immediately.

Mr. Dorismond's mother, Marie Rose Dorismond, and his father, Andre
Dorismond, assailed the grand jury's decision yesterday at an angry
news conference with the Rev. Al Sharpton. Alternately sobbing and
shouting, his mother called on God and President Clinton for help and
suggested the shooting had racist overtones. The three detectives
involved in the drug sting are Hispanic. Mr. Dorismond was black.

"Help me, God," she said. "Why did you create me black? Look at me,
I'm suffering now."

Mayor Giuliani said yesterday that Mr. Morgenthau's summary of the
investigation suggested that the police had acted almost without
fault. "It is pretty hard to read this report and find something to
criticize the police officers for," he said. "I think they were acting
under a very, very difficult set of circumstances. I think it is clear
from the report, and the report says quite clearly, that the aggressor
was Mr. Dorismond."

Mr. Giuliani, speaking in a calm, almost restrained voice, offered
condolences to the Dorismond family and later said the shooting was a
tragedy for all involved.

"I have great sympathy for his family," he said. "But I also have
great sympathy for the police officers who were put through what is a
horrible experience, in which their jobs, their liberties, their
careers were put in jeopardy and they will continue to be under
question and review for some time."

Mr. Morgenthau's remarks yesterday, and a summary of the case for
Police Commissioner Howard Safir that prosecutors released to news
organizations, provided the most vivid picture to date of what
happened shortly after midnight on March 16.

According to the prosecutors' report, the commander of the Midtown
South Precinct had requested the help of narcotics detectives after
reviewing mounting evidence that the Bloods gang was selling crack
cocaine on Eighth Avenue between West 34th and West 43rd Streets. And
so for two nights, a team -- consisting of Detectives Vasquez,
Anderson Moran, and Julio Cruz -- was assigned to the area. Detective
Moran posed as a drug buyer.

His two peers served as "ghosts," or backups.

Shortly after midnight on March 16, Mr. Morgenthau said, Detective
Moran saw Mr. Dorismond and a companion, Kevin Kaiser, standing in
front of the Wakamba Cocktail Lounge at 543 Eighth Avenue. Mr. Kaiser
has said that Mr. Dorismond was waiting for a taxi. With his ghosts
watching, the detective approached Mr. Dorismond and asked him if he
had any "krills," street slang for crack cocaine.

The encounter immediately turned hostile. Mr. Morgenthau said
witnesses testified that Mr. Dorismond argued with Detective Moran,
using foul language, and advanced on him as the detective backed away.
The other two detectives came to Detective Moran's side, Mr.
Morgenthau said, and the three men began to walk backward as Mr.
Dorismond continued to approach and his friend, Mr. Kaiser, tried to
restrain him.

Mr. Morgenthau described a flash point: Mr. Dorismond broke free from
his friend and punched Officer Moran, he said, and the dispute
descended into chaos. "Everyone was swinging fists, pushing and
grabbing at each other in a general melee or brawl," he said.

Mr. Morgenthau said Detective Vasquez told investigators that he heard
either Mr. Dorismond or Mr. Kaiser yell "gun" or "get the gun," and,
believing that the brawl was about to turn into a gunfight, the
detective yelled "police," stepped forward and reached into his pants
to withdraw a concealed pistol.

As he did so, Mr. Morgenthau said, Mr. Dorismond grabbed the
detective's right hand and the weapon and began twisting. The gun
fired, blasting a bullet into the left side of Mr. Dorismond's chest,
perforating his aorta and killing him within minutes.

Detective Vasquez, Mr. Morgethau said, "did not intentionally pull the
trigger, and in fact does not know how the discharge came about."

Although yesterday's announcement means that Detective Vasquez will
not face state criminal charges, the examination of the shooting is
not over, and he remains on modified duty, without a weapon,
performing police clerical work. Patrick E. Kelleher, the Police
Department's first deputy commissioner, said internal affairs officers
would review the evidence to see if he should face administrative
charges. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are also investigating the
case for possible violations of federal criminal civil rights laws.