Bronx District Attorney, Darcel D. Clark, announced on Friday, Jan. 14, that a former NYPD police officer has been sentenced to one to three years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of his next-door neighbor in 2019.

 

In the context of the sentencing, Clark said, “The 21-year-old victim was friends with the defendant, and both were playing soccer video games when the defendant’s off-duty firearm went off, striking the victim. The defendant, who had been a NYPD police officer for approximately one year, initially told investigators the victim was playing with the firearm and accidentally shot himself. However, an autopsy showed the gunshot was not self-inflicted. Additionally, the defendant did not perform life-saving measures. His actions were reckless and inconsiderate.”

 

Clark said the defendant, Martinson Afari Yeboah, 30, who was assigned to Housing Police Service Area 7 in the Bronx, was sentenced, on Friday, to one to three years in prison by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Ralph Fabrizio. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter on October 20, 2021.

 

According to the investigation, at about 5:25 a.m. on April 21, 2019, Yeboah, who was off-duty, was in the apartment of the victim, Frederick Afoakwah, on West Mosholu Parkway South, playing video games. The defendant’s off-duty firearm, a 9-mm semi-automatic pistol, discharged, striking the victim once in the neck. The victim’s father and cousin came out of their bedroom after hearing the shot and saw the victim dying in the living room. The defendant told them there was an accident and did not call 911 until the victim’s father urged him to do so.

 

Instead of performing life-saving measures, Yeboah, who lived next door, went to his apartment, left his firearm there and changed his shoes. He then went downstairs to the lobby to wait for first responders. The victim was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where he was pronounced deceased shortly after.

 

 

The defendant’s employment with the NYPD was terminated after the incident.

 

The case was prosecuted by Ilya Kharkover, deputy chief of the organized criminal activity bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Cassie Perez of the public integrity bureau, under the supervision of Omer Wiczyk, chief of the public integrity bureau, and under the overall supervision of Denise Kodjo, deputy chief of the investigations division, and Wanda Perez-Maldonado, chief of the investigations division. Clark thanked trial preparation assistant, Nathanielle Severe, of the public integrity bureau, as well as NYPD Lieutenant Emanuel Vizzotti, NYPD Lieutenant John Dasaro, NYPD Detective James McDermott, retired NYPD Detective Clayton Barnett, and all of the force investigation division, for their assistance.