Family says police failed to ID selves

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who told an undercover policeman to get off his family’s stoop punched the officer and struggled over the officer’s gun before being shot dead, police said Sunday.

Shem Walker, 49, hit the officer on the head and grabbed his gun Saturday night, police said.

Other officers heard the undercover officer or a plainclothes colleague identify themselves, top police spokesman Paul Browne said.

But Walker’s relatives said they were nearby and didn’t hear any officers identify themselves, said Councilwoman Letitia James, who visited the family Sunday. The shooting raised questions about police conduct, she said.

The undercover officer was serving as backup for a Brooklyn drug investigation at a deli a few doors down from the stoop in the Clinton Hill neighborhood, Browne said.

The racially and culturally diverse neighborhood is where the rapper The Notorious B.I.G. grew up.

The drug investigation didn’t involve Walker, but he came out of the home around 8 p.m. and told the officer to leave, hitting him on the back of the head.

When the officer stood up to confront him, Walker punched the officer in the face, and the two tumbled to the ground, Browne said. The officer had drawn his gun, and Walker grabbed it, Browne said.

The gun went off twice as the two scuffled, shooting Walker once in the chest, Browne said.

Other officers nearby said they had heard someone yell, “Police! Don’t move,” and a civilian witness heard a shout of “Freeze!” Browne said.