Following the release of disturbing body camera footage, the family of an armed man fatally shot by police in Brooklyn is calling for the indictment of NYPD officers involved in the chaotic clash.
The footage, released by the Office of the New York State Attorney General on Thursday, captures the deadly May 12 confrontation near the corner of E. 52nd St. and Church Ave. in East Flatbush that left 33-year-old Christian Emile dead.
The footage, recorded by the body-worn camera of Officer Alexander Campos, shows the cop arriving at the intersection and getting out of a marked police car. On the tape, Campos is seen getting out of his vehicle as his colleagues — identified by a lawyer for Emile’s family as Sgt. Kyle Sforza and Officer Brian Mejia-Morel, who are already on the scene — confront the man. Then they chase him.
The video also shows that Campos deploys his Taser, which hit the man and briefly stunned him, but did not subdue him. Campos runs behind a car and up onto the sidewalk behind Emile as the officers fire off numerous shots, striking the man at least once, the video shows.
As Emile lay motionless on the sidewalk, the officers suggest starting CPR and call for a boss before the video cuts off. A gun is visible on the sidewalk in front of Emile.
At a press conference following the fatal shooting, NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said Emile was pointing a gun at a rival before police arrived.
Additional surveillance footage from a nearby convenience store, also released Thursday, shows Emile appearing to argue with several men before police arrived. It’s not clear from the video, which records the man from behind and several storefronts away, if Emile is holding a gun in his hand when cops arrive.
While the redacted body camera footage doesn’t show the full sequence of events following the shooting, the cops performed “lifesaving measures” on Emile until he was taken to Kings County Hospital, where he died, Maddrey said at the news conference.
Emile’s family, which reviewed the unredacted footage, claims it reveals officers saying Emile pointed a gun at them, which prompted their gunfire. They argue this detail was omitted from Maddrey’s briefing, and alleged the NYPD misrepresented the incident, which “further calls into question the Department’s retelling of events,” according to a news release.
Lawyer MK Kaishian, representing Emile’s family, asserts Emile was “running in fear for his own life” from the officers.
“He should be alive today,” Kaishian said. “Instead, NYPD members gunned him down as he fled and continued firing wildly into the community they claimed to protect.”
The family is demanding City Hall take action against who they describe as “killer cops,” and urges is urging the attorney general to move forward with an indictment.
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