A detective examines the gun believed to be used in a shootout ending in death of Police Officer Harry Ryman in 1980.
A convicted killer who gunned down an off-duty NYPD officer trying to stop a trio of car thieves in 1980 has been granted parole, it was revealed Thursday — leaving his family and fellow cops furious.
Paul Ford, 58, one of three men convicted in the Aug. 15, 1980, shooting death of Police Officer Harry Ryman, is scheduled to be released next month despite receiving a life sentence in the case, the Police Benevolent Association said on Twitter.
“It’s bad enough that this hero family has to live in fear of what might happen when PO Ryman’s killers hit the street,” PBA President Pat Lynch said in a statement Thursday.
“But to swallow that fear while they watch their father’s sacrifice be devalued and disrespected by the state of New York — that is cruel and unusual punishment,” Lynch said.
Another man convicted in the cop’s killing, Barrington Young, 62, was released last year and deported, the records show.
The third convict, Cornelius Bucknor, 59, has been granted a parole hearing as well, the police union said.
“Honestly, it’s unbelievable,” the slain cop’s granddaughter, Kerri Ryman, said Thursday. “My heart just breaks for my father and his siblings who have to go through this. It really affects the family.”
Ryman, a 17-year veteran of the NYPD, was home in Brooklyn around 3:40 a.m. when his wife heard the three would-be thieves breaking into a car across the street.
He came outside with his service weapon and exchanged gunfire with the crooks — and was mortally wounded by three shots to the chest.
The three suspects were arrested and all were later convicted.
Ryman left behind his wife and five children, one of them an NYPD cop.
Ryman, a 17-year veteran of the NYPD, was home in Brooklyn around 3:40 a.m. when his wife heard the three would-be thieves breaking into a car across the street.
He came outside with his service weapon and exchanged gunfire with the crooks — and was mortally wounded by three shots to the chest.
The three suspects were arrested and all were later convicted.
Ryman left behind his wife and five children, one of them an NYPD cop. “They grew up without their father,” a high-ranking police source told The Post. “These guys got to have visits with their families. You don’t come back from death.”
An undated photo of NYPD Officer Harry Ryman shared by the PBA on Feb. 18, 2021. PBA
Cops and relatives have come before the parole board for years to keep all three behind bars — although two have now been paroled.
“I just told them, ‘Harry didn’t have a chance to see his children grow up, he didn’t have an opportunity to see his children get married, and he didn’t get to see his grandchildren,'” Phil Ferrante, Ryman’s former partner at the 60th Precinct in Coney Island, said after a 2006 parole board hearing.
The New York Post front page on Aug. 14, 1980, covering Ryman’s murder. New York Post