NEW YORK (WABC) — The family of a 46-year-old father killed in an apparent road rage shooting on the George Washington Bridge is questioning how the case against the accused shooter is being handled after he was arraigned Thursday on a manslaughter charge.
Koran Irvine was killed Tuesday night on the bridge. Victor Romero was arrested Wednesday for murder but was arraigned Thursday on a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter. Romero is a retired NYPD detective.
“They say that he’s not a flight risk…we can’t take his passport away. He fled the scene. He left my brother to die,” Irvine’s sister, Zeria Irvine, said.
More than a dozen of Irvine’s relatives attended Romero’s court appearance.
“My brother is a hero. He’s my hero. And I talked to him every single day on that commute that he does to come home,” Zeria Irvine said.
Irvine’s aunt, Gale Forde, also questioned the charge Romero faces.
“Koran was on his way home from work. Hard day’s work and stay in overtime. You had a retired police officer intentionally fired a bullet and killed him. And instead of it being murder, it’s called manslaughter,” Forde said.
The family has retained an attorney amid concerns about how the case is progressing.
“So do any of you have a picture of Victor Romero? Right. So Victor Romero’s complete identity was scrubbed from the internet prior to him being arrested…Mr. Romero was allowed to go to work the next day, and then he was allowed to come in to a precinct to ask questions. That’s preferential treatment. Did you see him do a perp walk in there just now? That was a modified perp walk, right? He had on a nice outfit. He looked clean cut. He looked very different from every other defendant that you saw in that courtroom before he was arraigned,” family attorney Keith White said.
Prosecutors said Irvine and Romero were simultaneously changing lanes while entering the upper level of the George Washington Bridge just before 7 p.m. They nearly hit each other, but both hit the brakes.
Prosecutors said surveillance video shows Romero pursuing Irvine in his company’s black Range Rover, aggressively tailgating him and then quickly pulling up to the right of Irvine before shooting into his VW Golf and speeding away.
“And to go home and have dinner that same night, and my brother was not able to have dinner with his children or his wife,” Zeria Irvine said.
Romero retired in 2000, shortly after an off-duty shooting that at the time was still the subject of a CCRB investigation.
“And he retired effectively, eliminating any investigation going forward. Now, Mayor Mamdani has recently asked for proposals in the NYPD’s retirement policy that would disallow this exact thing from happening. Unfortunately, they come too late, because we are now here with a grieving family,” family attorney Nick Liakas said.
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