Unarmed National Guardsman shot and killed by police

Cop Shoots, Kills Unarmed Ex-Soldier Near LaGuardia
A friend who was in the car when Noel Polanco was shot and killed says the police officers who pulled them over did so in an act of road rage
By Shimon Prokupecz, Katherine Creag and Gus Rosendale
Friday, Oct 5, 2012

Polanco served in the U.S. Army for four years, enlisting in April 2008. He was assigned to the 1156th Engineer Company headquartered in Kingston, N.Y.
"He actually joined the Army because he wanted to be a cop," said Noel De La Rosa, a friend of Polanco. "He said, 'Why don't I do this for a couple of years, and then I'll join the force.'"

A police officer shot and killed a driver who was pulled over on a busy highway near LaGuardia Airport early Thursday because the cop mistakenly believed he had a gun, law enforcement sources tell NBC 4 New York.

Noel Polanco, 22, was on his way home to Corona from his job at the Ice Lounge in Astoria, and left at about 5 a.m., surveillance video shows. He'd offered a ride to a colleague, bartender Diana Deferrari, and another woman, who was an off-duty police officer, according to sources. All three lived in the same part of Queens.

As they headed home on the Grand Central Parkway, Polanco was pulled over after cutting off what turned out to be an unmarked police van.
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Mother of Unarmed Man Shot by Police Near LaGuardia: I Want Justice for My Son
Police said Noel Polanco reached under his seat and appeared to grab for an electric power drill before he was shot
By Shimon Prokupecz, Katherine Creag and Gus Rosendale
Friday, Oct 5, 2012

The mother of a 22-year-old unarmed driver shot and killed by police after being pulled over on a busy highway near LaGuardia Airport on his way home from work decried the shooting Friday and demanded justice for her son.

"They're just gonna take my son like that ... like he's some kind of criminal ... 22 years old, never got in trouble. I want justice for my son," sobbed Cecelia Reyes. "I'm not gonna let his memory stay like this. He was not a bad kid."
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