Video Shows NYPD Officers Firing 9 Shots At Alleged Subway Turnstile Jumper, Hitting Bystanders

Surveillance and body camera footage released by the New York Police Department on Friday captured the chaotic scene that unfolded on a Brooklyn subway platform last weekend when a pair of police officers shot at an alleged turnstile jumper, striking bystanders in the process.

CCTV footage shows a man police identified as 37-year-old Derrell Mickles jumping over the turnstile at the Sutter Avenue train station in the neighborhood of Brownsville on Sept. 15, allegedly without paying. Minutes after being approached by NYPD officers Alex Wong and Edmund Mays, Mickles comes back through the turnstile, displaying a knife in his right hand.

Mickles returns minutes later and enters the station through the emergency gate. He is once again followed by Wong and Mays.

Footage from Wong’s bodycam shows officers approaching Mickles, who has his hands behind his back, and ordering him to drop his knife. Mickles responds to the officers by telling them to leave him alone and to not touch him, then backs into an approaching train car.

The officers follow Mickles into the train and order him to drop the knife. Mickles tells the officers to “shoot” before one of them fires a stun gun at him. This fails to stop Mickles, who walks out of the train.

Footage from Mays’ body camera briefly shows Mickles running towards him with the knife in his right hand. He has stopped running by the time that the two officers open fire at close range.

They fire a total of nine shots and hit Mickles, who falls down. Mays can be heard telling Wong, “I’m shot.”

Gregory Delpeche, 49, a bystander who was riding the subway to work, was also shot by a stray bullet, according to the Associated Press. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition where he underwent cranial surgery to reduce swelling from a bullet wound in his head.

Delpeche’s attorney, Keith White, told HuffPost on Saturday that his client is still in critical condition.

He commented on the video by saying Mickles “was in retreat when he was shot by members of the NYPD.”

White said Delpeche had been directed to another area of the train during the altercation, which is where he was shot by members of the NYPD.

“Our city’s leadership is failing,” White said. “They are not equipping first responders with the adequate tools to deal with EDPs (emotionally disturbed persons) and they are not taking the responsibility for our city to do better.”

Another bystander, a 26-year-old woman, was grazed by a bullet. Both Mays and the woman are in stable condition, local news website Gothamist reported.

At a news conference Wednesday, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell described the shooting as a “tragic situation” and defended his officers’ actions.

“We did the best we could to protect our lives and the lives of people on that train,” he said.

Mickles pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted assault, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing a police officer and fare evasion.

Mickles’ attorney, Jonathan Fink, told Gothamist that his client remains hospitalized and unable to walk.