Thursday was\u00a093-degree\u00a0New York at its most relentless. <\/p>\n
Hung-over\u00a0Knicks fans collided\u00a0on the morning subway with tourists in soccer\u00a0jerseys coming in for\u00a0the\u00a0World Cup.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the 50 or so people in\u00a0a\u00a0cool\u00a0Brooklyn courtroom,\u00a0the\u00a0delirium\u00a0outside\u00a0was nonexistent.<\/p>\n
They\u00a0remained\u00a0anchored\u00a0to the horrors of 2020, and the city\u2019s 47% spike\u00a0that year in murders.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The proceeding was straightforward:\u00a0Judge\u00a0Deepa Ambekar\u00a0sentenced\u00a030-year-old William Freeman\u00a0to 18 years in prison on a manslaughter plea, for fatally shooting Ethan Williams<\/a>, age 20, in the early morning of Oct. 24, 2020, as Williams sat on a Bushwick stoop with friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n Freeman\u00a0hadn\u2019t\u00a0targeted Ethan: He shot\u00a0\u2014\u00a0eight times! \u2014\u00a0toward\u00a0the group<\/a>\u00a0on the stoop, because he thought a rival gang member was there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n It took more than two years of NYPD work \u2014 and a traffic stop over a minor violation \u2014 to make an\u00a0arrest.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The courtroom\u00a0spectators\u00a0neatly divided themselves: on the left benches, the killer\u2019s\u00a0family\u00a0and friends, many wearing\u00a0blue-and-orange\u00a0Knicks t-shirts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n On the right, in crisp workplace attire,\u00a0were\u00a025 out-of-towners\u00a0who had flown in to\u00a0support Ethan\u2019s parents,\u00a0brother\u00a0and girlfriend as they spoke in court.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n They came at their own expense,\u00a0because Ethan\u00a0himself was a tourist.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n A\u00a0first-time visitor to New York, Ethan\u00a0had\u00a0arrived from Indianapolis\u00a0for a skateboarding tournament and to see the sites featured in his favorite Spider-Man films, his father Jason told the courtroom.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Ethan, an aspiring filmmaker, saw the city as a \u201ccinematic playground . . . to come to New York for the first time was a big deal,\u201d Jason said.\u00a0<\/p>\n But mostly he wanted to meet people, which is why he was sitting on the Brooklyn\u00a0stoop of his AirBnB.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Jason told Ethan what any nervous parent tells his kid: \u201cThe last time I\u00a0texted to\u00a0him\u00a0 . . . was keep your head on a swivel. New York\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0home.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead, as Jason told his son\u2019s killer before the judge, \u201cYou entered the story and violated our family, and you introduced an evil into our lives.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n And while New York has moved on from Ethan\u2019s murder, it\u2019s not over for the Williams family.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor a lot of people, Ethan\u2019s death was a headline,\u201d Ethan\u2019s mother\u00a0Susan said.<\/p>\n But \u201cIt\u2019s what I think of when I wake up and what I think about when I fall asleep.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet the family publicly forgave Freeman Thursday \u2014 \u00a0and Susan counseled him to take his debt to them seriously by becoming a better person in prison.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWilliam, I want to talk to you now,\u201d Susan\u00a0said. \u201cYou are beloved. I want to acknowledge today your family\u2019s loss . . . Violence multiplies suffering.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Freeman\u00a0was remorseful, apologizing multiple times.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s not gonna help nothing,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I did was terrible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n By the time Ethan\u2019s parents, brother and girlfriend were done speaking, even the court stenographer was crying \u2014 and\u00a0the sniffles from Freeman\u2019s family\u2019s side of the room were just as audible as those from the Williamses\u2019 side.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But Freeman\u2019s contrition\u00a0underlines\u00a0New York\u2019s\u00a0failing.<\/p>\n The city and state should have\u00a0prevented\u00a0this crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Before Freeman shot toward Ethan multiple times, he had racked up nine arrests,\u00a0including for\u00a0gun possession.<\/p>\n In January 2020,\u00a0cops\u00a0caught\u00a0him stealing baby formula from a Manhattan store while toting a switchblade.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But New York\u2019s \u201creformed\u201d criminal-justice system\u00a0released\u00a0him\u00a0\u2014 then\u00a0failed to\u00a0re-arrest him<\/a> when he skipped court appearances.\u00a0<\/p>\n That left him free to shoot Ethan, and to seal himself a long prison sentence.\u00a0<\/p>\n New York is safer now, with murders at record lows<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n And Ethan\u2019s family had a role in that.<\/p>\n Over the past half-decade, public and political\u00a0pressure\u00a0has pushed Gov. Kathy Hochul to tighten our criminal-justice laws \u2014 and some of that pressure came from Ethan\u2019s family.<\/p>\n