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Gurley was laid to rest this weekend, sparking more protests. But his family told Al Sharpton, who decided he was going to give the eulogy at the 28-year-old’s funeral, told to back off when he tried to run the show.

From the New York Post:

Gurley’s relatives told Sharpton to stay away rather than turn the somber ceremonies into a spectacle.

“It’s been a nightmare,” Gurley’s aunt, Hertencia Petersen, told The Post. “He just wants to take credit for this when he’s never even contacted my sister [Gurley’s mother].

“Who made you the spokesperson of our family? We just want to bury our nephew with dignity and respect.”

Petersen was stunned that Sharpton and his National Action Network billed him as the eulogist for a Friday funeral, when they were planning on a Saturday service and wanted a speaker who actually knew Gurley.

“How can you do a eulogy for someone you don’t even know? It’s heartbreaking,” she said.

By late Friday, Sharpton accepted a rare defeat and backed off, though he blamed it on “confusion and division” within the Gurley family.

The family didn’t get any offers of help, either, to fly Gurley’s mother and stepdad up from Florida for the funeral. Petersen turned to the SEIU, of which she is a member as a healthcare worker, to help raise funds to get relatives to the funeral. http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=264129.msg1494836#msg...