Not to make light of what is a really tragic situation, but I’m not buying this excuse at all.

Cop: I couldn’t save shooting victim because NYPD helped me cheat on CPR test

The partner of trigger-happy rookie cop Peter Liang told Brooklyn jurors Thursday that he himself didn’t try to resuscitate the man Liang accidently shot in a housing project stairwell — because the Police Academy had let him cheat on his CPR certification test.

I don’t know that “trigger happy” is the correct term for what happened, but that’s beside the point.

Officer Shaun Landau was asked Liang’s defense attorney about giving first aid to the shooting victim.

This was his answer,

“Yes,” the partner admitted. Both Landau and Liang failed to resuscitate unarmed Akai Gurley, 28, as he bled to death in the stairwell after the accidental 2014 shooting, instead leaving his girlfriend to attempt chest compressions, according to testimony.

“But you’re certified in CPR?” Brown asked.

“Yes,” the partner answered, looking nervous.

“And at that moment you didn’t know what to do?”

“Yes,” the partner answered again.

Landau told jurors that during his academy training, instructors handed out the questions and answers in advance of the written certification exam.

“During the time they were teaching that information, were they talking about the questions that would be on the exam?” Liang’s lawyer asked. “You were fed the questions and the answers?

“Correct,” Landau replied.

Did this actually happen? I don’t know, and I’m sure that if it did, other people will confirm the fact. What undermines Landau’s statement is this,

Landau also confirmed defense contentions that he grabbed a cellphone out of Liang’s hands as the distraught officer was trying to call in the accidental gun discharge and pocketed it.

“You took the phone away from him, and put it in your pocket?” Brown bellowed for effect.

“You affirmatively stopped him from calling the sergeant?”

“Yes,” Landau answered.

There’s nothing in the record about whether they called on the radio for help (or if the radio system was working, for that matter). If not, calling someone by cell phone, call box (do they even have those any longer), or some other means would be the thing to do. The partners also “bickered” for several minutes about what to do, according to the article.

Landau is testifying as a prosecution witness under an immunity deal. Which of course, requires him to testify truthfully.

If he is telling the truth, that does not reflect well on NYPD and it’s training at all. If he’s lying, then he is going to be in a lot of trouble.