10CAUGHT ON BODY CAM BARRELING AT A COP
Shooting of teen driver by officer appears to be justified: NYPD source
A teenager critically wounded in a Bronx police-involved shooting was barreling at an NYPD cop in an SUV when the officer opened fire, body cam video reveals, according to a police source.
“You can see the car is driving straight at him on the body camera,” the source said of Sunday’s incident.
The account suggests the officer who shot the teen in the head was within NYPD guidelines for the use of deadly force.
The suspect, Luis Manuel-Monsato, 18, was struck once in the head and is in critical condition at Lincoln Hospital. If he survives, he will face criminal charges, another police source said.
“We don’t actually know anything that’s happening,” a distraught cousin of the teen told the Daily News, declining to give her name. “It’s just devastating. We don’t know why, how — like, we don’t know anything.”
Manuel-Monsato lives in Clifton, N.J., and does not appear to have an arrest record in New York City, cops said.
NYPD policy discourages shooting at moving vehicles unless something other than the vehicle is being used as a weapon. But there are exceptions, based on circumstance.
The drama unfolded about 8 p.m. at E. 165th St. and Boston Road in Morrisania.
The officer watched a black Jeep blow through several red lights as the driver zoomed north on Boston Road.
When the driver finally stopped at a light at E. 165th St. two unmarked NYPD cars surrounded the Jeep, one in the front and the other in the back.
That’s when Manuel-Monsato allegedly hit the gas, speeding in reverse toward one of the cops, who then opened fire, striking the teen once in the head. The cop’s partner also opened fire but she did not hit anyone.
A neighbor, who gave his name as Raymond G., 59, said he was talking on the phone with his son when he heard “more than seven shots,” looked out the window and saw cops pumping Manuel-Monsat’s chest while other officers chased additional men who fled the Jeep.
“All I heard was some screeching noise and then all the sudden I heard a “Stop!” Raymond G. said. “And bang bang bang, and the car hit the wall, so when I looked out that’s when I saw the action. I saw three
individuals trying to run. They were trying to run out the car, and that’s when they got caught.”
The car came to a rest on the sidewalk in front of the AME Zion Church.
Three passengers were taken into custody, but it appears they will not face charges.
The Sunday night incident is the third in less than a month in which NYPD cops have shot at moving vehicles.
On Thursday night, a sergeant shot at a reckless driver who nearly struck him and other officers during a Brooklyn car stop of another vehicle.
The shot hit the back of the car that nearly hit the cop in Flatlands.
The driver lost control, struck a parked car and ran off. A passenger was taken into custody.
On Feb. 15, a robbery suspect nearly clipped a cop in East Harlem.
The cop fired one round but didn’t strike anyone and the suspect got away.
On Nov. 3, a Brooklyn cop fired at least six shots at a Honda CR-V driven by a man trying to run him over in reverse after cops tried to stop and question the driver about a string of auto break-ins.
The driver and passenger abandoned the vehicle in East New York and ran off.
All the shootings are being investigated by the NYPD.