The family of a bystander shot in the head by NYPD officers during a confrontation with a fare beater at a Brooklyn subway station has taken the first step in filing an $80 million lawsuit against the city, officials said Saturday.
The notice of claim, filed Thursday, accuses officers involved in the Sept. 15 shooting of exhibiting “carelessness and reckless” disregard for the lives of others when they opened fire on Derrell Mickles, a man armed with a knife at the crowded Sutter Ave. subway stop in Brownsville.
Straphanger Gregory Delpeche, 49, was riding an L train to work when a stray bullet fired by one of the officers struck him in the head.
The officers first had tried to stop Mickles with a Taser but opened fire when the stun gun didn’t work, officials said.
Delpeche has been hospitalized ever since the shooting, recovering from a debilitating brain injury at a Level One trauma center, his attorney said. The $80 million sought in the lawsuit will go towards medical costs, he added.
“There is no amount of money that can make up for the harm that Gregory has suffered – we can only hope to make his life more manageable by providing him with enough resources to take care of all of his medical needs,” his attorney Nick Liakas said in a statement.
“The NYPD caused irreparable harm to this innocent bystander and to avoid further tragedy, major policy changes must be considered, including eliminating the use of highly ineffective Tasers on civilians.”
The stray police slug pierced the left side of Delpeche’s head and exited, possibly leaving bullet fragments in his skull, doctors told his shocked family.
“He’s still in intensive care. … He’s sedated,” Delpeche’s cousin Greg Nougues, 57, told the Daily News after the shooting. “They had to open up the cranium so his brain could swell, so they could operate.”
A second subway rider, a 26-year-old woman, was also struck by a stray NYPD bullet during the shooting and suffered a minor injury.
One of the two cops who opened fire was wounded by friendly fire from his partner and was listed in stable condition.
Mickles was also shot and critically wounded. He has been charged with assault on a police officer and menacing.
The drama unfolded about 3 p.m. when Mickles, who has a history of mental illness, walked through an open subway gate at the subway station, according to police. Mickles has about 20 prior arrests, including more than a dozen for burglary, plus one for a robbery and one for gun possession, police sources said.
Two 73rd Precinct officers, assigned to the station on overtime as part of an effort to tamp down on subway crime, followed Mickles in a second encounter he had with them within 15 minutes.
“At a certain point on the platform, the male mutters the words ‘You know I’m going to kill you if you don’t stop following me,’” NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said at a news conference held on the afternoon of the shooting. Officers Edmund Mays and Alex Wong caught up to Mickles and asked him to take his hands out of his pockets, Maddrey said.
“They become aware that he has a knife in his pocket,” the chief said.
“They give numerous commands,” Maddrey said. “The male basically challenges the officers—‘No, you’re going to have to shoot me.’”
The fare beater was within seven feet of the cops — with his knife drawn — when they opened fire, officials said.
Nougues said it was too soon to know how severe his cousin’s brain damage will be.
“It’s a waiting game now. It’s just a waiting game,” said Nougues, who added that Delpeche has been able to move his arms and legs.
Delpeche worked as a clerical associate at Woodhull Medical Center, relatives said.
A notice of claim is a legal announcement filed if someone is planning to sue the city. The official lawsuit may be filed within the next few months.
“The NYPD will review the lawsuit if and when we are served,” an NYPD spokeswoman said Saturday.
With News Wire Services
