NYPD Officers, Shooting at Crazed Guy, Take Down Lady in Walker

A guy acts crazy at a busy bus terminal in New York City, presenting a danger to himself and others, according to witnesses. Police open fire on the guy, thinking he's going for a gun. Instead they hit two random people. Well, at least no dogs were killed. According to the New York Post:

Cops trying to subdue an emotionally disturbed man with a long rap sheet accidentally shot two female bystanders outside Port Authority Bus Terminal on Saturday night, source said.

Theodora Ray, 54, was struck in her leg — breaking two bones in her calf — as she stood leaning on her four-wheeled walker across from the terminal; Sahara Khoshakhlagh, 35, was grazed in her buttocks.

Two cops pulled off a total of three shots in the mistaken belief that the deranged Glen Broadnax, 35, was armed after he reached into his pocket as they approached him, officials said.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Broadnax appeared to be trying to get hit by traffic, so it is a bit of a mystery why the cops weren't actually able to shoot him. Eventually they were able to subdue him with a Taser. Oh, hey, proper use of Taser! Good work, guys.

(Update: Belated hat tip to Reason commenter Old Man with Candy. Get in his van, now.)

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Comments

[MikeP]

From the Daily News:

Witness Mike Favilla told The News cops opened fire after the man put his hand into his pocket, pulled out a MetroCard and pointed it at the officers like it was gun.

MetroCard or 3D-printed gun. Who can be sure anymore?

[playa manhattan]

The shooting was caught on a cell phone cam (sort of). Criminally negligent at best. The intersection was so fucking crowded with people, it was a miracle that nobody died:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtMnVxjqhDk#t=65

[Paul.]

Times Square shootout 9/14/13

Doesn't a 'shootout' imply that people where, you know, shooting back?

[sarcasmic]

Twenty bucks says the police department will have to be sued before they'll pony up for the women's hospital bills.

[Another David]

It's a good thing the cops opened fire on the guy, otherwise he might have hurt himself, or created a potential danger to others in the area!

[Old Man With Candy]

Where's my goddam hat tip? I went years here without one, and now this.

I think I'm going to go out, eat a donut, then kick down a door and shoot a dog. It's your fault, Shackford.

Sincerely yours,

OMWC (aka Mel Famie)

[np]

http://reason.com/24-7/2013/09.....ders-tryin

(Hat tip to Mel)

No more font page hat tips for you!

[Old Man With Candy]

24/7 is ephemeral. H&R is eternal.

[Scott S.]

Added. I didn't know you were a reason commenter based on the e-mail. Not all tipsters like to be acknowledged.

[Old Man With Candy]

Har, the joke's on you- I already shot the dog.

[Scarecrow Repair]

Did you give it some chocolate candy first?

[Old Man With Candy]

No. Officer safety and all that. Gut shot, though.

Now, do what Uncle Shackford says and get in the van!

[Scarecrow Repair]

Sorry. My giraffe is hungry and your van is too small.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

As you can clearly see, only trained professionals can be trusted with guns. Can you imagine the chaos if a civilian were involved?

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

Never gets old.

[BardMetal]

I know I mean cops spend many long minutes at the gun range honing their skills.

[Nooge.]

TENS of minutes, at least.

[Mike M.]

"Top climate scientists" admit global warming forecasts were wrong.

Wow, no shit, really?? Thanks for admitting what everyone already managed to figure out like three or four years ago guys; that's so darn big of you!

[playa manhattan]

Yet the media is still calling it a "pause", as if they know the fucking future.

[nailzer]

The DENIERS have been always been correct! BOOYA!

[playa manhattan]

If he was trying to get hit by a car, why didn't they just let him get hit by a car? The problem would have solved itself.

[Another David]

The same reason they shoot people to stop them from shooting themselves. They like shooting people.

[jesse.in.mb]

And the sad thing is this was still better handled than the Christopher Dorner debacle.

[playa manhattan]

Debatable. In the Dorner incidences, as fucked up as it was, the police hit what they were aiming at.
Here, they shot point blank at a large man, and ended up hitting an old lady across the street.

[jesse.in.mb]

After watching the video I'm inclined to agree. When I read "bus terminal" I was thinking they were in an enclosed space. WTF were they thinking firing at someone where the only thing around to stop the bullets were crowds of people?

[playa manhattan]

Bus terminal=Times Fucking Square

[My Dog Bites Better Than Yours]

Ahem. Since when is 54 considered "Old"?

[Paul.]

Officer safety is what they were thinking.

[The Late P Brooks]

There is also the story (which I linked to in the Tulpanetics thread) about the guy in North Carolina who was shot by the police as he ran toward them (presumably) looking for help.

He slid his truck off the road and rolled it at least once, judging by the photo. He then made on foot to a house and banged on the door. The woman slammed the door in his face and called 911. The rest was, as they say, inevitable.

Except, mirabile dictu, the hysterical officer who killed him in a fit of panic has been charged with manslaughter.

I anxiously await the plea bargain.

[playa manhattan]

I had to walk away from that thread.

If anyone has Tulpa's address, I would be glad to next-day-air my Econ 100A textbook to him complete with notes in the margins.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

From what I learned in the other thread, that means you must gain pleasure from shipping economics textbooks. Which sounds like some kind of disorder to me.

[sgs]

Wow they must have seriously taken you apart to make you come in here and troll him like that.

[sgs]

Ok, I read through it, no wonder you're in here taking cheap shots, you got completely schooled.

[The Late P Brooks]

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Broadnax appeared to be trying to get hit by traffic, AND THIS IS WHY STOP AND FRISK IS NECESSARY!

[The Late P Brooks]

If anyone has Tulpa's address, I would be glad to next-day-air my Econ 100A textbook to him complete with notes in the margins.

Unless you also have an English-to-Tulpa dictionary, it won't do much good.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Thank God no one was injured.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I think they got libertarians all figured out

[DesigNate]

Wow, that's derpalicious.

[Andrew S.]

Okay, I've looked at that about 5 times and I still can't understand what they could possibly mean.

[Chen Kuan Tai]

And you know these douchebags will get away with this because, as everyone knows, cops are the greatest fucking heroes on the face of the Earth. The way this society treats "first responders" as if they are inherently infallible beings who always do the right thing and always deserve the benefit of the doubt, no matter how badly they fuck up, is fucking nauseating.

[Wayoutbill]

NYPD has a bad record when it comes to 'accidentally' discharging their handguns. It was (wrongly) determined that the trigger pull on their Glocks was too 'soft', so the City asked Glock to increase the trigger pull on all weapons sold to the City to 2 to 3 times that of a regular Glock. This is known as a 'New York Trigger'. The unintended consequence of this is that the typical service handgun issued to NYPD cops is very hard to aim and fire accurately. This, combined with the fact that officers are required to do only minimal twice-a-year qualifying, makes for a lot of innocent bystanders getting shot. Remember the Empire State Building shoot-out a while back where several bystanders were inexplicably hit by cop bullets?
BTW, the problem with accidental discharge of NYPD weapons is not the fault of the gun, it's the officers' not being able to keep their fingers off the trigger until they actually want to fire at something.

[Wayoutbill]

The point is: don't be the guy standing next to the guy that the NYPD is shooting at...