As debates continue throughout the country about use of force by police, Brooklyn prosecutors are preparing to convince a jury that a young officer patrolling a dark stairwell in public housing was reckless and criminally negligent for a single gunshot that killed a young, unarmed black man.

But Officer Peter Liang argues that Akai Gurley's death from a ricochet bullet through the heart was an accident. Liang is prepared to tell his version of the events at the upcoming trial.

Liang was a 27-year-old officer who graduated from the police academy about 11 months prior to his patrol of the Louis H. Pink Houses in East New York.