Cop big defends wrong-guy Tase
A HIGH-RANKING NYPD official defended cops who used a stun gun on the wrong Brooklyn man in a case of mistaken identity.
Officers were called to a home near Lincoln Place and Buffalo Ave. in Crown Heights about 3 p.m. on Tuesday to help with an emotionally distressed man.
When they got to the busy block, they ran into Charles Walcott, 21, who began acting “irrationally” when cops approached him, Chief of Department Terence Monahan said Wednesday.
“They go up to him, try to encounter him, speak to him,” Monahan said.
“They thought that he was emotionally disturbed based on his actions and based on the description. They went to try and take him into custody. He resisted. They used a Taser to get him into custody,” Monahan said.
But cops had actually been summoned by Allison Wilson, 48, who called 911 after her son Andre Hinkson began trashing their apartment and then fled.
Monahan said a description of Hinkson was transmitted on police radio, and cops spotted a man matching that description. That man turned out to be Walcott.
“As they approached him, he did resist them,” Monahan said. “They were trying to take him into custody for his own safety, so they utilized a Taser.”
Cops took Walcott, to Kings County Hospital, where doctors said he was fine to be released. He was not charged.
Monahan said his officers spoke to Allison Wilson at the scene.
“Our officers . . . had a conversation with the mother of the individual,” Monahan said. “He had fled the house, broken the house up. She said he was emotionally disturbed.”
Hinkson told the Daily News on Wednesday that he and Walcott were friends, but he declined to comment on the incident.
Witnesses Tuesday criticized the officers’ reactions.
“They had the intersection blocked with four Jeeps and a control car,” said Shania Seldy, 26.
“He was on the corner. They Tased him and he went down. A guy came running from the street and he said, ‘Officer, you got the wrong guy.’ But they didn’t care. They put him in the ambulance and they took him away.”