‘I DON’T WANT TO SHOOT,' BUT ...
bx. standoff - and its deadly end - revealed in cops' body-cam vid
The NYPD on Thursday released its first-ever body-cam footage of a police-involved shooting — and it shows a cop warning a deranged man, “You are seconds away from getting shot,” just before killing him.
A total of 48 minutes of footage from four officers’ cameras show the tense Sept. 6 standoff in The Bronx that ended with the death of Miguel Antonio Richards, 31, after he threatened cops with a fake gun and real knife.
Officers Mark Fleming and Redmond Murphy from the 47th Precinct were sent to Richards’ Edenwald home when his landlord told police he was acting erratically, Chief of Department Carlos Gomez said Thursday.
The footage shows the landlord open a door to Richards’ darkened bedroom, revealing the man standing still in the far corner with a knife in his left hand and his right arm behind his back.
Fleming and Murphy repeatedly order the man to “put that knife down” and ask what he has behind his back, but a stone-faced Richards silently looks at them through sunglasses, video shows.
“I don’t want to shoot you. This is not gonna end well for you if you don’t put that down,” Fleming says before bellowing, “Put that knife down. You hear me?”
A neighbor can then be heard off camera pleading with Richards to comply, imploring him to think of his family and seek help.
“Drop the knife, man. They don’t want to hurt you,” the neighbor shouts. “I’m begging you, brother. There’s someone you’ve gotta love. You can get help, brother.”
But Richards continues to glower, and the neighbor places a phone call to one of Richards’ friends, police sources said.
“Yo, Peter, tell this f- -king guy put the knife down. There’s police here right now,” the neighbor is heard saying. “I got you on speaker. They’re gonna take him out. Talk to him right now. Let him hear your voice, ’cause he not listening.”
Fleming can be seen taking the phone from the neighbor and shouting, “Talk to your dude. Put your knife down,” as he slides the device on the floor to Richards.
A voice is heard coming from the phone. “Ricardo, put the knife down,” it says.
Richards remains silent, so the neighbor tells the man on the phone to repeat himself.
“Hit him again, man. They not f- -king playing,” the neighbor yells.
The voice on the other line calls out, “Ricardo! Ricardo!” as Fleming quietly radios for a Taser and moments later radios for a sergeant to “fly over here. We got a guy with a knife in his hand, just want him to put it down, and we need him Tased.”
The officers become agitated as