Police officers repeatedly pleaded with a Bronx man armed with a knife and toy gun to drop everything before they fatally shot him last week, according to body-camera footage released by the New York Police Department on Thursday.
The unprecedented release showed the first police shooting captured on body cameras in New York City. Police officials said it was in an effort to further transparency, something Commissioner James O’Neill has made a hallmark of his first year at the head of the department. Others questioned what precedent it sets for future filmed shootings and whether it interferes with officers’ due process.
The more than 16-minute compilation was of footage from cameras worn by four officers. The landlord of the building at 3700 Pratt Avenue called the police Sept. 6 to conduct a wellness check on Miguel Richards, 31 years old, after the landlord hadn’t seen Mr. Richards for a couple of days.