NYPD to release cop-shoot body cam video

THE NYPD on Thursday plans to release body camera footage showing the confrontation earlier this month that led to police fatally shooting a Bronx man.

Police sources said the roughly 14-minute video will show cops repeatedly telling Miguel Richards, 31, to drop the knife he was holding in his Edenwald apartment on Sept. 6.

The video will end as police open fire, and will not show Richards’ dead body, sources said.

Cops say Richards aimed a toy gun at police, and officers fired 16 shots at him.

The video will show police repeatedly asking Richards if he’s hiding a gun behind his back, as well as pleas from another man inside the apartment telling him to drop the knife, and saying the officers did not want to hurt him.

Richards’ landlord let cops into the apartment, after he called them to the scene to conduct a “wellness check” because he hadn’t seen his tenant in a while.

His death marks the first officer-involved fatal shooting recorded by police body cams since the NYPD started equipping cops with the technology in April.

The release of the video comes over the objections of Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark.

“Transparency is critical to building trust between community and law enforcement. Notwithstanding, I still have an obligation to protect the integrity of the investigation into this shooting,” Clark said Wednesday. “Releasing videos to the public during the early stages of an investigation may resolve some questions about the incident, but it may compromise the integrity of the investigation.”

Clark said she believes the footage should be released after the investigation is completed.

Richards’ family has already seen the footage, sources said.

NYPD Chief of Patrol Terence Monahan acknowledged the video’s pending release at a town hall meeting Wednesday night. “That’s something that’s going to be released tomorrow for everyone to see what actually happened,” he said.

The NYPD is still mulling how it will handle body camera footage in the future.

On Tuesday night, NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill told the New York Press Club he favors the release of body camera video. “I think it’s important to release videos whether good, bad or indifferent,” he said.