Driver fatally shot by NYPD on Belt Parkway after ramming police and civilian cars in Brooklyn: Police
Belt Parkway Shooting (Photo: Citizen)
NEW YORK - A man is dead after NYPD officers fatally shot him on the eastbound Belt Parkway in southern Brooklyn on Saturday night, Nov. 14, following a reported abduction in Coney Island and a chaotic confrontation in highway traffic, according to preliminary information from police.
What we know:
During a press briefing following the shooting, NYPD Assistant Chief Charles Minch, commanding officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, alongside Force Investigation Division Executive Officer Inspector Paul Muoio, said the incident began around 7:19 p.m. with a 911 call reporting a possible abduction at West 22nd Street and Surf Avenue in Coney Island.
A man and a woman called 911 together, with the male caller reporting that he saw a girl kicking and screaming inside a white van, and the female caller reporting she heard her yell, "Let me go," multiple times. While still on the phone with 911, the two callers spotted NYPD officers in a marked patrol vehicle and flagged them down to report the potential kidnapping.
When officers approached the white van, the driver drove onto the sidewalk and sped away at a high rate of speed. Officers broadcast the van's description and license plate number over department radios.
Belt Parkway Shooting (Photo: Citizen)
The driver soon ran into heavy traffic on the eastbound Belt Parkway in southern Brooklyn, where uniformed officers caught up to the vehicle. According to police, officers walked up to the van and gave multiple verbal commands for the driver to get out before breaking the front passenger-side window.
At that point, the driver began driving forward and backward, repeatedly ramming both police cruisers and occupied civilian vehicles on the parkway. Officers tried to stop the driver using pepper spray and a Taser, but neither was effective as he continued ramming nearby cars.
Officers then fired their guns, striking the driver. Police pulled him from the van, called an ambulance and performed CPR until EMS arrived and took him to Lutheran Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The involved officers were taken to an area hospital for evaluation.
What we know about the woman in the van
Despite the initial 911 report of an abduction, police said investigators located the adult woman who had been inside the white van within hours of the shooting. She was not injured.
According to police, the woman confirmed she had been inside the van screaming and exited the vehicle before officers first arrived on the scene in Coney Island.
Investigators believe the screaming stemmed from a domestic dispute. Police said the driver was already wanted for an unlawful imprisonment last month and a domestic assault earlier this month involving the same woman.
What we don't know:
Police are withholding the driver's name pending family notification, and officials noted that all details released so far are preliminary and subject to change.
Authorities have not said whether any drivers or passengers inside the civilian vehicles rammed on the Belt Parkway were injured, or how many officers fired their weapons.
The shooting was captured on body-worn camera and is under investigation by the NYPD's Force Investigation Division.
The Source: This article was written using information from the New York City Police Department.