NYPD Subway Shooting Caught on Camera: Officer Fires at Unarmed Man Standing Still

NYPD Subway Shooting Caught on Camera: Officer Fires at Unarmed Man Standing Still

Footage released by the NYPD shows two officers opening fire on a man holding a knife in a Brooklyn subway station. The video, however, contradicts the police's initial account of the shooting, raising serious questions about the use of deadly force.

The video, uploaded to the NYPD's YouTube page, shows the officers confronting Derell Mickles, who was holding a knife. While the officers repeatedly tell Mickles to drop the knife, he refuses. The video shows that Mickles was standing still, with his arms by his side and his back to a train, when the officers fired multiple shots.

The shooting also wounded a bystander, Gregory Delpeche, who was hit in the head with a stray bullet and had to undergo surgery to reduce brain swelling. Delpeche's attorney, Nick Liakas, said the video shows there was no need for the officers to fire their weapons.

“The NYPD’s version of events is a gross mischaracterization of what we see on that video,” said Liakas. “There was no need for any bullets to fly in the subway station, especially in a setting where the officers put innocent bystanders at risk. And it resulted in Gregory getting shot in the back of the head.”

The NYPD, however, has defended the officers' actions, claiming Mickles “charged” at one of the officers. The interim police commissioner, Thomas Donlon, said Mickles refused to drop the weapon after repeated orders and advanced towards the officers while armed.

The shooting has sparked outrage and calls for police reform. Loyda Colon, of the group Communities United for Police Reform, said the incident is a result of the city's focus on criminalizing mental illness and poverty.

“This horrific event that endangered dozens of transit users didn’t happen in a vacuum,” Colon said. “It happened because the mayor has invested in flooding officers into our subway system and communities to criminalize mental illness and poverty, rather than in making transit, housing, and services affordable and available to New Yorkers.”

Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain, has defended the officers, saying they showed “great levels of restraint.” However, after the video was released, his office released a statement that was less effusive, noting that the NYPD’s initial review found that shooting took place after Mickles “brandished a dangerous weapon and put officers’ lives at risk.”

Mickles, who was hospitalized following the shooting, has pleaded not guilty to charges including attempted aggravated assault on a police officer, menacing an officer, weapons possession and evading his subway fare.