Oct. 27 — Hundreds of workers came to Foley Square in lower Manhattan this afternoon to demand justice for their union brother Koran Irvine. The 46-year-old father of two children and Con Ed employee had been killed the week before by retired police detective Victor Romero.
Irvine was driving home from a 12-hour shift on Oct. 20, when his and Romero’s vehicles nearly collided on the crowded approach to the George Washington Bridge. Romero’s response — shown on video — was to aggressively tailgate Irvine’s smaller car before firing his gun into its back window, killing Koran Irvine.
Despite this evidence of “malice aforethought,” prosecutors initially arraigned the ex-cop for mere manslaughter. Only after Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2 members filled the courthouse the morning of Oct. 27, did a grand jury upgrade Romero’s charges to second-degree murder.
As the ex-cop left the courthouse, dozens of Con Ed workers righteously shouted “murderer” at him.
After Victor Romero killed Koran Irvine, he drove home and had dinner with his family. Meanwhile, Koran Irvine’s wife Patricia Irvine was widowed, and his daughter and son became fatherless.
The former detective was allowed to turn himself in and stays free on $1 million bail. Thousands of poor people in New York City’s Rikers Island jail who haven’t been convicted of anything are kept locked up because they can’t afford bail.
One of them was Kalief Browder, who was jailed there for three years before his false charges of stealing a backpack were dropped. The Black youth was so traumatized by his imprisonment that he hanged himself on June 6, 2015.
Where is Mayor Mamdani?
At the Foley Square rally that afternoon, union and family members spoke about their love for Koran Irvine, whose nickname on the job was “Flaco.”
Many also questioned the kid glove treatment given by the police to his accused killer. Long-time friend Chris Demmerle told a WNBC reporter that, referring to Romero, it “seems like he’s being protected and doesn’t seem like it’s fair at this point.”
Frank Morales, the president of the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2, said that “the world lost a truly special person” when Koran Irvine was killed. It was recounted that the former union shop steward helped younger workers on the job.
Hawk Newsome, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Greater New York, declared in reference to other victims of police killings, “We can’t separate this from what it is. This is George Floyd. This is Eric Garner. This is Sandra Bland. This police is covering for police to kill Black people. … They let that man [Romero] go home, sit out and chill”
Kerbie Joseph from the Party for Socialism and Liberation said that “this isn’t just an injustice to his [Koran’s] family; this is an injustice to all of us.”
But so far there’s been no word from Con Ed’s CEO Timothy Cawley about the death of their employee who had recently completed 20 years on the job. Cawley, who raked in $14.1 million last year, heads up a corporation that locked out Koran Irvine and thousands of other workers for a month in 2012.
And where was Mayor Zohran Mamdani? His office in City Hall was only a couple blocks from the Foley Square rally.
Who did speak up for Koran Irvine in Foley Square was Linda Tigani, the chair of New York City’s Commission on Racial Equity, whom the mayor wants to fire.
Mayor Mamdani didn’t show up for the same reason he didn’t fire Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch or disband the police department’s brutal Strategic Response Group. These are questions of state power, the organized violence that keeps poor and working people down.
Only the power of the people can bring justice for Koran Irvine.
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