Police officers shot and killed an allegedly knife-wielding, suicidal man following an hour-long standoff on the Brooklyn Bridge early Friday morning, police sources said.
The police shooting happened at about 4:15 a.m. on Sept. 4 on the iconic span hundreds of feet above the East River, where the unidentified man in apparent emotional distress had apparently ascended the bridge’s beams and cables.
Assistant Chief Jerry Dowling, commanding officer of the NYPD Emergency Services Unit, said that members of his team in full safety gear climbed up the cables and conversed with the man for more than an hour. During the standoff, according to the preliminary investigation, the officers had spotted a knife in the man’s hand, and tried to talk him down off the bridge and to get him to drop the weapon.
“The officers on the bridge engaged in verbal dialogue with the male for almost an hour, explaining they were there to help and trying to convince him to come safely down from the bridge,” Dowling said. “He said, ‘I want to die, I want you to kill me. I have a bomb. You’re not going to make me do something bad to the cops.’”
No explosive device was found, police sources said.
After about an hour, Dowling noted, the knife-wielding man rapidly descended the cable, sending ESU officers on the bridge backward. But the chief noted that their harnesses, which were attached to the bridge cables, slowed their ability to move — and as a result, the man was able to move within about three feet of the nearest officer.
“When he got to within 3 feet of the closest member of ESU, he raised his arm with the knife stretched outward toward the officer,” Dowling said. “At that point, another member of the ESU on the roadbed of the bridge discharged his weapon one time, striking the male.”
ESU members then began rendering medical aid to the man until EMS arrived. The man was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Police recovered the knife and a flashlight found in the man’s possession. Dowling noted that bodycam footage captured the entire incident, which will be examined as part of the NYPD Force Investigation Division’s inquiry into the case.
The chief sought to explain that his specially trained officers had followed proper procedure in handling this incident.
“Members of ESU are especially trained for these types of high-risk and incredibly dangerous situations,” Dowling said. “They receive extensive instructions on de-escalation and how to engage with individauls compassionately.”
The Brooklyn Bridge had been shut down for much of the Friday morning commute; as of 8:35 a.m. Friday, police reported that the bridge had been fully reopened in both directions.
It was the second fatal police shooting this week. On Monday, cops in Times Square shot and killed a woman who allegedly stabbed two people, killing one of them, in an apparently random attack sparked by a psychotic episode.
Updated on Sept. 4 at 9:25 a.m.
