NYPD releases body-cam footage of fare evader subway shooting

The New York Police Department released body camera footage of a subway shooting that has roiled the city in recent days.

The edited video released on Friday partly corroborates the department’s justification for the shooting, which injured two bystanders and a police officer as well as suspect Derrell Mickles.

While protesters have decried the shooting as an overreaction to fare evasion, police say that Mickles was carrying a small knife and threatened officers with it. Mickles does appear to be holding a knife in the edited clip shared by the NYPD.

Officer's originally engaged Mickles after he hopped a turnstile and turned him back. When Mickles came back onto the subway platform through an emergency exit, police gave chase. What appears to be a folding knife can be seen in Mickles hand and is highlighted in the video.

Officers confront Mickles inside a subway car and attempt to tase him. When Mickles flees the car, two officers follow.

The video shows both officers opening fire on Mickles with his back to a train car window, inside of which multiple passengers are visible. The department described the shooting as a use of “reasonable force” and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, whose office is entangled in at least four separate FBI probes, said officers should be commended for exercising “a great level of restraint.”

One of the bystanders who was shot by the NYPD is still in critical condition after a bullet grazed his head.

The Sunday shooting, in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, drew large protests over the course of the week. Protesters demanded answers and accountability from the NYPD and criticized officers for using excessive and reckless force.

“They chose, in an enclosed space, to escalate the situation and use a disproportionate, excessive amount of force,” Jennvine Wong, a police accountability attorney, told the New York Times earlier this week.

The NYPD, which dismissed over 400 alleged misconduct complaints this year without reviewing evidence, says the officers acted in accordance with department guidelines.