Shooting sparks outrage in North Central
Parolee wounded by officer during Tuesday night traffic stop
TROY, N.Y. » An officer-involved shooting Tuesdaynight has sparked tension between city police and residents of a North Central neighbor- hood.
Troy Police Chief John Tedesco said Dahmeek J. McDonald, 22, of Troy, waswounded about 6:40 p.m. during a confrontation with officers on 8th Street, just south of Rensselaer Street, while he sat in his vehicle.
“Troy police officers came upon a car that contained two individuals, one of which was wanted by the NewYork State Division of Parole as an absconder,” said Tedesco during a Wednesday morning news conference at the police department’s Central Station. “He had previously removed his ankle bracelet, he had a history of weapon possessions and was on parole for drug sales.”
Tedesco said events happened during the traffic stop that are still under investigation, but led Officer Jarad Iler to discharge his weapon.
“The subject was struck twice,” explained Tedesco. “He was shot once in the shoulder and he was grazed once on the head. Mr. McDonald is in the custody of the state Division of Parole and as far as charges pending from the city of Troy, that’s still to be determined at the outcome of the investigation.”
Tedesco said McDonald is wellknown to officers and the North Central neighborhood and that police had been looking for him for a while. Iler, a five-year veteran of the force with an exemplary service record, according to Tedesco, was notified, along with other patrol officers, by state parole officials at the
start of their shift that they were looking for McDonald and were provided with a vehicle description and partial license plate number and said the vehicle was located on 8th Street.”
Tedesco said several other officers were also onthe scene as the incident unfolded, with four officers placed on administrative leave while the investigation goes on.
“I want to emphasize that is not a matter of discipline, and it is not an inference that there was any kind of misconduct whatsoever,” said Tedesco. “This goes by our policy that when an officer discharges his weapon in the line of duty, they are automatically given 72 hours off, and then we will judge their ability to come back to work at the end of the 72-hour period. There’s a lot of variables that could go into that.”
Police said McDonald was taken to a local hospital and is expected to recover. Meanwhile, Iler andOfficer Martin Furccniti were also checked out at a different local hospital, Tedesco said, and are also expected to be fine.
Despite police assurances that the shooting would be thoroughly investigated, a group of nearly 100 protestors marched Wednesday from the shooting scene to City Hall, blocking off one lane of Hoosick Street during the lunch hour as they proceeded down to River Street and south to City Hall, where they demanded a meeting with Mayor Patrick Madden, chanting familiar slogans like “All lives matter,” “Black lives matter,” “No justice, no peace” and “We demand justice.”
“This type of stuff has happened across the whole country because dogs lives matter more than black lives,” said Messiah Cooper, McDonald’s uncle, who led the Wednesday afternoon protest. “We hope that people will be held accountable for their actions, just like our children are. We need to let them know that we’re ready to die on our feet, but we’re going to be peaceful about it.”
A heavy police presence followed the marchers for the duration of the two-hour protest, but there were no confrontations, arrests or injuries.
“My nephew wasn’t a bad person,” said Cooper as the group marched to City Hall. “He had issues, he was running from parole, but that don’t give nobody the right to shoot him. Now, we’re going to City Hall, and hopefully, the mayor takes notice, because if he don’t, then we need to shut down his city and let them know that we control this city.”
Madden did eventually come out and brought Cooper and other family members up to his office to meet for nearly 30 minutes.
“We had a great conversation,” Madden told protesters after the meeting. “I can’t think of a thing that we discussed that we didn’t agree on. Wehave this particular issue that we are working very hard on. This investigation needs to follow its course, and I am committed to doing that, and I am confident that wewill develop the facts that explain what happened that night.”
Cooper said he, in turn, agreed to give the process a chance to work.
“We have to give them time,” he said. “I have to be a man of my word, I told them that we will give them time. Weare going to give him time to work with his officers, see where we go from there and hold them accountable if need be.”
Cooper also challenged the community to help address a problem city officials have admitted to for several years, a lack of blacks and other minorities on the police force. The city has tried numerous ideas to attract more minorities to join the force, but officials said they have only seen slight increases in applicants of color.
“We need you all to come out,” Cooper told his fellow marchers. “We need you in the community, policing your people.”
Residents in the neighborhood also took to the streets Tuesday night to express outrage over the incident and were met by a line of officers sporting riot gear, though no arrests or additional injuries were reported.
“Therewere several people that gathered, and we had a conversation with several people,” said Assistant Police Chief George VanBramer. “They wanted to know what happened, and they have a lot of questions, as everyone does. We explained to them that it’s under investigation, and most people were content with that at that point in time.”
Tedesco said investigators have been unable to find any video footage from the incident, but they are asking anyone who witnessed the incident or who may have captured it on video surveillance cameras to come forward and call police at 270-4426.
“I would ask that the residents of Troy be patient,” said Tedesco. “We’re certainly trying to be as transparent as possible as the events unfold, and we will keep the public informed as we come upon any new information.”
Tedesco said the investigation doesn’t reach the level where the state Attorney General’s Office could take over the investigation under an executive order from Gov. Cuomo allowing the state to take over any case in which an officer-involved shooting left a civilian dead. Instead, he said, the department will conduct an internal investigation in consultation with the Rensselaer County District Attorney’s Office.
Cooper said he intends to stay in constant contact with the mayor’s office and the police department and vowed to continue protesting every week if nothing changes.