Joseph Gray

Who is Joseph Gray?

Joseph Gray is a former New York City Police Department officer who killed three pedestrians, leading to a stillbirth, on August 4, 2001 while driving drunk in Brooklyn. The event "mushroomed into scandal" when it was discovered that other officers were drinking with Gray in a topless bar and a nearby precinct parking lot before the incident. Five officers were suspended and five were transferred, including the precinct's commanding officer, executive officer and integrity control officer. The two officers who were on probation at the time were ultimately dismissed.

The New York Times cited the incident as an example of the blue wall of silence, "the tradition of the police lying or looking the other way to protect their own", because of the attempts of some of Gray's colleagues to get him off. The Times compared the incident to the testimony of Frank Serpico and the assault of Abner Louima. According to Prof. Jerome Skolnick at New York University Law School, "The blue wall is still an issue, and it's not surprising that sort of behavior would take place around drinking, which is seen as a kind of a venial sin. It is so widespread that cops are most likely to cover up for one another on that issue."