The New York City Police Department late Friday released the body-camera and closed-circuit video footage of the shooting of Derell Mickles that occurred on the Sutter Avenue L train platform in Brownsville.
The CCTV footage shows Mickles jumping over the turnstyle at around 2:55pm on Sept. 15. Police officers Alex Wong and Edmund Mays then follow Mickles up the stairs. Two more people go into the station without paying shortly after Mickles, the footage shows.
A few minutes later, Mickles is seen leaving the station with a knife in his hand.
A around 3:04pm, Mickles returns to the station. After waiting around for the emergency exit to open, Mickles then enters the station for the second time, according to the footage.
The body-camera footage from Officer Wong shows Mickles, 37, holding a knife on the platform. Wong and Officer Edmund Mays repeatedly ask him to drop the knife and show his hands. Mickles then boards a northbound L train and asks the officers to leave him alone.
The officers both used their Tasers on Mickles, which did not work. The footage shows Mickles running out of the subway car and down the platform where he stops.
According to the written words included in the video footage, the NYPD said Officer Wong discharged six shots from his service firearm and Officer Mays fired three shots.
The shots fired by the NYPD injured Mickles, who is currently hospitalized, according to the Gothamist. A 49-year-old bystander was fatally shot in the head, and a 26-year-old woman was grazed by a bullet.
Mickles was arrested and charged with attempted assault in the first degree, menacing of a police officer, theft of services and criminal possession of a weapon in the forth degree, the NYPD said.
After the footage was released, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who last week said the officers showed "restraint," said no one wants to see innocent people get hurt.
“Our condolences go out to the innocent bystanders involved in this incident and their families, and like all New Yorkers, we’re praying for their immediate recovery," the mayor said in a statement.
“We all agree that public safety and justice are the prerequisites to prosperity and they must go hand-in-hand. Every day, we are fighting to reduce crime on our streets and in our subways, and our administration remains committed to keeping New Yorkers safe. While this matter remains under investigation, the NYPD’s initial review found that this shooting took place after the suspect involved brandished a dangerous weapon and put officers’ lives at risk. While the formal review continues, and out of respect for that process, I will avoid commenting any further. As a young man, and throughout my career as a former police officer and as an elected official, I’ve spent my career fighting for both public safety and police reform, and I have been clear that I expect a Police Department that is professional, impartial, and just. The NYPD continues to work diligently to ensure New Yorkers are both safe and policed fairly," the statement said.
The incident was "completely avoidable, and the video footage should disturb all New Yorkers," the Legal Aid Society said.
“The surveillance and body-worn camera footage released last night, which is unsurprisingly edited and fails to capture the entire NYPD melee, completely contradicts the Department’s claim that Derell Mickles 'charged' at one of the officers. As the video clearly shows, Mr. Mickles was standing still when NYPD personnel unloaded their firearms at him," the nonprofit legal group said through a statement.
Not a single shot needed to be fired at the moment officers fired into a train with people in it, said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
"I can only think of what our collective horror would be in a wealthier, whiter population and call us to that same outrage and purpose – to not only improve our tools and trainings for de-escalation, but fundamentally examine and shift the public safety approach that led to preventable violence," he said through a statement.
If the mayor and NYPD officials are willing to deliberately misinform New Yorkers about body camera footage before it's made public, how can we ask New Yorkers to trust this administration now that the video is released and truth is exposed, Williams added.
