Ousmane Zongo (c. 1960 – May 22, 2003) was a Burkinabé arts trader living in the United States who was shot and killed by Brian Conroy, a New York City Police Department officer during a warehouse raid on May 22, 2003.
The case drew parallels to that of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed immigrant from Guinea who was shot and killed by New York City Police Department officers in the Bronx in 1999.
Al Sharpton led protests against alleged police brutality and racial profiling and was involved in getting Zongo's family from Burkina Faso to attend court proceedings.
[citation needed] Justice Robert H. Straus convicted Conroy of criminally negligent homicide,[2] while clearing the officer of the more serious charge of second-degree manslaughter, which has a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Conroy did not receive any jail time but was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and was given five years' probation, automatically losing his job with the NYPD.