New York Times – by MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ and JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
Confronted by an agitated man who at one point lay down in the middle of a crowded intersection in Times Square, two police officers fired shots late Saturday evening at the man, striking two bystanders instead, the police said.
Both bystanders are women from Manhattan, and happened to be walking in the vicinity when the police officers opened fire, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said at a news conference at Bellevue Hospital Center early Sunday morning.
A bullet hit one woman, 54, in the leg, fracturing her tibia and fibula, Mr. Kelly said. She was taken to Bellevue Hospital where she was expected to undergo surgery. The other woman, 35, suffered a graze wound to the buttock. She was treated at Roosevelt Hospital and was in the process of being released, Mr. Kelly said.
Both women were shot on the northeast corner of 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue in Times Square. Neither woman was identified.
The agitated man, who witnesses and officials said had been darting in front of cars on 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, was in police custody at Bellevue Hospital, Mr. Kelly said. The man’s identity was not immediately disclosed. Mr. Kelly said the man is 35 years old and from New York. The extent of his injuries was unclear.
Witnesses said that the man was hit by several cars.
In a video of the episode captured by a witness on his cell phone, the man is seen running erratically around the intersection as police officers tried to corral him out of the street.
“He was just wandering, running away from the cop,” said a witness who described himself as a retired police officer and did not want to be named. “He tried to run and ended up getting hit by three different cars.”
At the news conference early Sunday, Mr. Kelly, citing the preliminary investigation, said that in fact the man had not been hit by any cars.
“It appeared that he wanted to be struck by cars,” Mr. Kelly said.
At one point, Mr. Kelly said, the man put his hand in his pants. He then withdrew it and mimicked shooting at police officers, Mr. Kelly said, though his hand was empty. That is when the two officers opened fire. One officer fired one shot and the other fired two shots, Mr. Kelly said. Neither officer hit the man, who was later surrounded by officers, shocked with a Taser and subdued, Mr. Kelly said.
The police later wheeled the man into an ambulance. He was conscious and sitting upright, dressed in a green sweater. He appeared to be handcuffed.
He only had a wallet in his possession, Mr. Kelly said.
One of the officers involved had been with the police department for one and a half years, Mr. Kelly said. The other had three years of experience. Neither had been involved in any shooting incidents before Saturday, he said.
The NYPD sharpshooters are at it again. Their target gets away unscathed, despite being “hit by three different cars,” and another two innocent bystanders take the bullets for him.
And it’s hard to explain the utter stupidity of opening fire at anything on the corner of 42nd St. & 8th Ave. There probably aren’t too many busier intersections on the planet, and you have bullet-bouncing steel and concrete in all directions.
That entire police force needs to be disarmed, because none of them know how, where, or when to shoot. Two cops couldn’t take this lunatic down without shooting him? The article doesn’t even say that he was armed at all.
Why did these morons open fire? (the only answer is in the question; they opened fire because they’re morons)
You know who ought to be disarmed in the US….?
Not the Public but
The Police…
If you can’t keep the Peace without firearms….then go home.
Your fired….someone else will step up and do the job….
I’d Bet on it and I am a Betting type
Yes, the trigger happy retarded goons. There are such large numbers of them these days that I wonder why they even think they need guns?
“..’.he reached into his pocket, took out his hand, and simulated as if he was shooting at them’ Kelly said.” (NY Daily News) That’s when the cops opened fire.
OMG! What a deadly threat! Those poor scared cops! Of course it’s absolutely rational to open fire in front of Port Authority Bus Terminal on a Saturday night just as the Theater Crowd is letting out.”He pointed his finger at me…SHOOT HIM!”
Thwe words I have for the NYPD are not fit to print.
“I don’t know what you’re all worried about. Vogons are the worst marksmen in the galaxy.” ~ Marvin (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
Off with their heads!
““It appeared that he wanted to be struck by cars,” Mr. Kelly said.”
OBVIOUSLY the shootings were justified.
The cops were simply attempting to make sure no cars were damaged by this raving lunatic.