On October 20, Koran Irvine, 46, was driving home from his job at Con Edison to Valley Cottage, New York, where he lived with his wife, Patricia, and their two children, ages 11 and 14. Irvine, a Con Edison worker and member of the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2, never made it home. Patricia said she was tracking her husband’s location on her phone when she noticed that his car had stopped moving on the George Washington Bridge.

According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Irvine and Victor Romero, 62, nearly collided while changing lanes on an approach to the bridge. Prosecutors say surveillance footage shows Romero aggressively tailgating Irvine’s Volkswagen Golf before pulling alongside it and firing a shot from his moving Range Rover. The bullet struck Irvine, whose car crashed into the center divider. He later died at Englewood Hospital.

Romero did not stop or call 911, but  continued driving home toward New Jersey where he proceeded to wipe his online presence. Koran should have made it home to his family, too.

$1 Million to Walk Free

Romero was a narcotics detective with the New York Police Department since 1994, and retired in 2001 after being wounded in Brooklyn. He continued carrying a firearm long after retiring, and investigators found two additional guns at his home.

His defense attorney invoked his police career to portray him as a heroic officer. Irvine’s family questions whether that background helped him receive preferential treatment from the justice system.

Romero was arrested on October 21 and initially charged with second-degree murder, but the following day, prosecutors brought the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter. Judge Kevin McGrath set bail at $1 million, and Romero was was released on October 23 after posting bail.

Following demands from Irvine’s family and union, a grand jury indicted Romero on a second-degree murder charge on October 27, an offense carrying a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. Yet he remains free on bail pending his arraignment on the indictment, scheduled for November 23.

The family’s attorney, Keith White, questioned why Romero was able to go to work the day after the shooting before being arrested. Irvine’s aunt, Gale Forde, asked whether someone without a police background would receive the same treatment. Judicial favoritism has not been established, but a million-dollar bail requirement exposes how access to money can determine who remains free while awaiting trial.

Not Just a Bad Apple

This killing cannot simply be explained as a driver losing control or another “bad apple.” Police violence and the privileges surrounding law enforcement are rooted in the role of repressive forces within the capitalist state: maintaining the existing social order and protecting private property through coercion. In the United States, the history of policing is deeply intertwined with racism and the repression of workers and immigrants.

Romero had been out of the NYPD for decades, but his defense relied on his history in the police.The debate also extends to the politicians who uphold these institutions. Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul proposed limiting local police participation in civil ICE operations without ending cooperation with federal law enforcement in criminal investigations or dismantling the state’s repressive apparatus.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, despite his rhetoric of transformation, kept Jessica Tisch as NYPD commissioner and reaffirmed that decision on October 13. His administration announced a review of police use-of-force policies, while sections of the left continue to demand more far-reaching changes, including the disbandment of the Strategic Response Group, a specialized NYPD unit also deployed at demonstrations.

Democratic administrations that manage and preserve institutions whose power structures remain intact behind promises of reform. As we demand justice, it’s clear that true justice cannot come  from the same state institutions that were built to protect the rich and punish workers.

The anti-immigrant offensive under Trump’s second administration has expanded immigration detention and deportations, accompanied by reports of overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and deaths in ICE custody. According to ananalysi[a]s of official data, deaths in ICE custody rose from 11 in 2024 to 33 in 2025, the highest annual total in more than two decades. Between January 2025 and March 18, 2026, the cumulative total reached 46.

Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights documented 52 deaths during the first 500 days of Trump’s second term and found that deaths were increasing at a rate disproportionate to the growth of the detained population. They also identified serious shortcomings in medical care and oversight. Although the circumstances of individual deaths differ, these reports expose structural dangers facing people held in detention.

Police forces, prisons, and immigration detention centers form part of a state that exercises coercion over workers and oppressed communities. Trump is intensifying this logic, while Democrats fail to break with it when they preserve the powers of repressive forces while promising reforms. The lives of immigrants and Black workers cannot be subordinated to state control.

Workers Fight Back: Organization and Solidarity

Irvine’s family, friends, and coworkers refused to remain silent. Hundreds gathered outside a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday for a rally demanding justice organized by his union. His family members spoke in pain and rage denouncing their loved one’s murder. Coworkers shared anecdotes about his kindness. Speakers drew parallels between the police murders of George Floyd, Eric Garner, and Sandra Bland. Demonstrators chanted, “Where is the mayor?” Union leader Frank Morales called on District Attorney Bragg to maintain the murder charge and keep Romero in custody. Keith White highlighted the role of the workers’ mobilization in the fight to reinstate the more serious charge.

The fight cannot end with demands for justice in the courts. The union leadership must put the full strength and resources of the union behind this struggle, not only to demand justice for Koran Irvine, but also to confront the conditions that allow such violence to happen again. Workers, alongside Koran’s family, must have the power to decide how to carry this fight forward. That means opening democratic, rank-and-file assemblies where they can openly debate, propose actions, and collectively determine the next steps. It must be the workers themselves who decide how far this struggle goes, rather than leaving those decisions to union officials or the courts.

That solidarity shows why unions must fight racism, police violence, and repression, not just negotiate wages. We need democratic workers’ organizations, with rank-and-file assemblies where workers themselves decide how to fight, and stronger ties with Black communities, immigrants, and students. Strikes and mobilizations by workers and students, including in France, demonstrate the power of collective action.

Justice for Koran Irvine

Koran went to work and never came home. Patricia lost her partner, and two children lost their father. The murder indictment is a step forward, but Romero remains free on bail, and the family continues its fight.

At Left Voice, we express our solidarity with Patricia Irvine, her children, her family, and Irvine’s coworkers. We denounce police privilege and maintain that fighting racism and repression requires independent working-class organization, solidarity with oppressed communities, and mobilization from below against capitalist exploitation.

Justice for Koran Irvine! End Police Impunity!

The post Former NYPD Detective Killed Koran Irvine, and Remains Free on $1 Million Bail appeared first on Left Voice.

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