Police tape blocks off Tiffany Street in Brooklyn on May 9, 2023.
The Office of the Inspector General has determined that a state trooper who shot and wounded a man who was holding a knife and threatening to hurt officers during an eviction in Brooklyn last May was justified.
State police said troopers were called to assist state marshals who were handling a court-ordered eviction on Tiffany Street in Brooklyn on the morning of Tuesday, May 9, 2023, after a resident who had a knife refused to leave.
The 59-year-old man told police, "You're going to have to shoot me. If you don't, I'm going to get at least one of you."
While investigating the shooting, the inspector general released body camera video of the encounter and a trooper can be heard saying, "We don't want to hurt you. We don't want you to hurt us."
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The man who was being evicted made several suicidal remarks and refused to drop the knife, according to the inspector general.
Then he walked toward troopers while he was still holding the knife and one state police sergeant used a stun gun while a trooper fired his gun at the man, striking him in the abdomen, according to the Office of the Inspector General.
The man who was shot was flown to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he underwent surgery. He was discharged on June 16 after being treated for the gunshot wound and taken into police custody to face charges including attempted assault in the first degree, according to the Office of the Inspector General.
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The Office of the Inspector General determined that the trooper “used deadly force to defend himself” and a sergeant from “what he reasonably believed to be a threat of serious injury or death” and that the force was “objectively reasonable and justified.”
