NYPD brass is doubling-down on a controversial police friendly fire shooting that left a cop and two bystanders injured — calling the mishap “tragic” but defending the officers who opened fire.
Police said cops warned the deranged fare beater who sparked the encounter to drop his knife 38 times and tried to Tase him twice before firing off nine rounds at a Brooklyn subway station Sunday.
“This is fast-moving, fast-paced and a stressful situation, and we did the best we could to protect our lives and the lives of people on that train,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell told reporters Wednesday.
“However, again, we must correct the narrative that is out there that we went to that train station and shot someone because they did not pay a $2.90 fare,” he said.
“That is not true, it’s irresponsible and wrong.”
Chell and NYPD brass maintained that bodycam footage from the officers showed a tense, two-minute-26-second showdown with knife-wielding suspect Derrell Mickles.
The footage — which advocates such as the New York Civil Liberties Union have clamored for — will be released by the NYPD in the coming days, police officials pledged.
Mickles, 37, had two run-ins with cops within 10 minutes, Chell said.
He first jumped the turnstile in front of the officers inside the Brownsville station about 2:50 p.m., Chell said.
The cops asked Mickles to leave, and he did so “voluntarily,” he said.
“But I must add, for some reason when he left the stationhouse he took the knife out and opened the blade,” Chell said.
Mickles returned to the station and opened a gate to help a woman through — at which point one cop said, “Be careful, he has a knife,” Chell said, describing bodycam footage.
The cops followed Mickles to the subway platform, where they yelled at him to show his hands and drop the knife 38 times, Chell said.
“He refuses to drop the knife and at this point, both officers discharged their Tasers,” he said.
“The Tasers did not immobilize Mr. Mickles.”
“Two minutes and 26 seconds of a complicated, fast-paced special situation involving a person in mental distress, involving a person armed with a deadly weapon, involving an oncoming occupied train, involving an 8-foot-wide platform and then a moving train, as I stated, on an elevated platform.”
Mickles charged one officer with an 8-inch knife, before turning around to attack the other cop, Chell said.
“It was at this time they both discharged their weapons, striking Mr. Mickles,” he said.
The shots also struck bystander Gregory Delpeche, 49, who is currently fighting for his life, and another straphanger.
Officer Edmonds Mays, who gave medical help to Mickles, was also shot in the armpit, Chell said.
Mickles is charged with first-degree attempted assault, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, two counts of menacing and two counts of theft of services. charged with first-degree attempted assault, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, two counts of menacing and two counts of theft of services.
Police said the knife was stolen from the crime scene but has since been recovered.
The man who did was tracked down and briefly put in custody before being released, officials said.
— Additional reporting by Tina Moore
