Transcript: Mayor Adams Visits NYPD Officer Shot in 73rd Precinct and Briefs Media With Interim NYPD Commissioner Donlon

September 15, 2024

Mayor Eric Adams: First of all, thank God our officers are okay and clearly they averted an even greater tragedy with a person with over 20 arrests, a real career criminal. We have four people that were shot and we're able to have a real account of what's actually occurred due to what I believe is the partnership with the MTA and the Police Department.

There were a number of cameras not only on the train but on the platform, as well as the body-worn cameras of our officers. So I'm joined here with the head of the MTA, Janno Lieber, as well as the police commissioner and the chief of department and our entire team. We'll give you an account of what took place on the transit system. So I'm going to turn it over to Janno Lieber.

Janno Lieber, Chair and CEO, Metropolitan Transportation Authority: Thank you, mayor. Many times [when] there's violence, especially shots fired on a train, it breaks New Yorkers' hearts because we know this is a special place.

This is the way that New Yorkers get around to live their lives and we must make it safe. And a day like today really is a, you know, puts a hole in New York's heart. I'm especially concerned about bystanders. People are just trying to get where they're going, being the victims of harm in this situation. But let's not forget why this started. It started because somebody wanted to come to the transit system with a weapon. Somebody who, as the mayor said, had a history of crime and a history of violence and even gun charges, I'm told.

So we bless the officers and the mayor and the police and the NYPD who every day put people out there to make sure the people who get on the transit system do not have to encounter people with weapons. In this case, that's what those officers were doing. They were trying to prevent somebody who had a weapon from getting on the train and terrible things occurred because he resisted apparently.

So I just want to say that this is, it's important for us at this moment to remember that the work of the NYPD, under the mayor's leadership, with the support from the governor, the reason that we have cameras inside this train is because the governor decided she wanted to make that a priority. And we have cameras on the platform, cameras in the mezzanine, so there will be no question of what took place.

And even at these terrible moments, I have to remind New Yorkers that because of the work that we've all been doing under this team's leadership, crime is down in the subway. Down versus 2023 and down 10 percent versus pre-pandemic. So we will, under, with this great teamwork, we will continue to fight back to make sure that New Yorkers can use the transit system and feel safe as they should. This is a sacred place and no one should fear violence. I just want to put a word out to say that there is a new police commissioner who I've known for many years and I'm excited to work with, but the team that is pushing back against transit crime remains intact in there. Thank you for your leadership.

Interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlon: Thank you, sir. Police Commissioner Thomas Donlan. It's unfortunate that I'm here, meeting many of you under these circumstances, but in my 30 years of law enforcement, I've learned that policing is a very, very difficult job. First, I want to thank the doctors. My staff at Brookdale Hospital, feel grateful for them, and the great work that they do.
I also want to thank the men and women of the New York City Police Department who put their lives on the line every day, 24-7. As I said, this is a dangerous job and today was another reminder of that. A few moments ago, I spoke with all four of [Mrs. May's] family. She's in good spirits and is expected to make a full recovery.

We will be working through the timeline of today, but make no mistake, the events that occurred on the Sutter Avenue station platform are the results of an armed perpetrator who was confronted by our officers doing the job we asked them to do. There will be a full and thorough investigation conducted into this incident, as we always do in cases like this. But right now, we are grateful that our officer will be okay. Now the chief of department, Jeff Maddrey.

Jeffrey Maddrey, Chief of Department, Police Department: Thank you, Commissioner Donlon. First, I just want to let everyone know that this incident is only a few hours old. The details that I will provide are subject to change, but I did have an opportunity to review body-worn camera and other cameras there, and I'm going to give you the facts that I know right now.

At about 3:04 p.m., you had two police officers who were assigned to the 73rd Precinct, doing duty on the L line, which is an elevated train line at the corner of Van Sinderen and Sutter Avenue in the confines of the 73rd Precinct. These officers were assigned to the 73rd Precinct, but they were in the trains, which has been part of our strategy all year to help reduce crime and increase quality of life in train stations. The two officers are standing there. They observe a male walk in. They observe the male stand by the gate for a few moments. It was a very short time, and he walks in the gate without paying the fare. The officers immediately follow him. It's three flights up to the platform of the elevated train line. The officers are asking him to stop. The male is refusing to stop. 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.

The officers are able to catch up to him. The male turns around. He confronts the officers. The officers are asking him to take his hands out of his pockets. They become aware that he has a knife in his pocket. They give numerous commands. The male basically challenges the officers, no, you're going to have to shoot me.

As they're standing there, a train, a northbound train pulls into the station. One of the car doors open. The male jumps onto the car doors. The officers are able to get onto the train with him, and they're trying again, there again, giving commands for him to put his hands down and to, you know, come with them. One officer deploys his taser. The taser was ineffective. The second officer deploys his taser. The taser is ineffective. The male jumps back off of the train onto the platform, and at one point he's advancing on one of the officers with his knife. The officer stands back. He draws his weapon, and then both officers at this point fire. They fire multiple rounds, and the male goes down. They're able to handcuff him and subdue him.

While they're subduing him, one of the officers realized that he's hit as well. The officer who was hit didn't stop. He continued to do his duty. He helped his partner put the man in handcuffs. They searched him, and when they saw where the man was wounded, they started performing life-saving measures by applying pressure to his wound while this officer is also bleeding from his chest area. While they're working on the male, they become aware that other people are hit by gunfire as well. Additional officers arrive to the scene. They're able to give aid to the police officer who was hit. They're able to give aid to the male who was hit, and then they get able to give aid to two more civilians, another male and another female, who were both struck by gunfire.

Everyone was removed to the hospital. Our two officers are here at Brookdale. The three other people were moved to other local area hospitals where they're being treated for their wounds and injuries. This incident will be investigated further by our detective squad and our force investigation division. As I said, we thank the hospital for all their great work, and the men and women of this Police Department for doing what we asked them to do, to go out there and make our trains safer. And unfortunately, they ran into somebody who has a significant arrest history, someone who has a history of mental illness, and he decided that he was not gonna, you know, go nicely with the officers, and officers were put in a very difficult situation to save themselves. At this time, I'll turn it over to our PBA president who will give a few remarks.

Patrick Hendry, President, Police Benevolent Association: We're truly grateful that our brother police officer is on the road to recovery, thanks to the nurses and the doctors in this hospital. We're praying for the civilians who were injured in this incident. But our police officers are out every day, whether it's on patrol, whether it's on the subway, whether it's patrolling the streets. This is the dangerous environment all police officers are up against.

A dangerous career criminal out on the streets, a dangerous career criminal who is carrying a weapon, a dangerous career criminal who didn't comply with police officers' orders, who wasn't afraid to stab New York City police officers. The question needs to be answered. Why was this dangerous individual who was arrested numerous amounts of times, why was he out in the streets of the City of New York?

We've been, as police officers and the PBA, been out in courtrooms across this city, courthouses, demanding change in our criminal justice system. We cannot do this alone. We need help from everyone involved in the criminal justice system. We need New Yorkers to finally demand change. This chaotic situation happened because of this career criminal. Demand change, New Yorkers. We cannot do this alone, but I'll tell you this, we're going to continue to be at courthouse to courthouse, courtroom to courtroom, and we'll bring the cameras and we'll continue to demand change in our criminal justice system.

Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard, Public Information, Police Department: All right, so we're going to take a few questions. Obviously, like the chief just said, this is fresh, subject to change. However, we'll take a few brief questions.

Question: Would you characterize this as a case of friendly fire [inaudible] ricochet inside the train?

Chief Maddrey: I don't like to use that term friendly fire, but absolutely, we believe at this time that our officers were the only ones who discharged weapons at this time. I don't know if that'll change. So everyone that was struck this afternoon, we believe was by our officers.

Question: Those victims, can you talk to us about their status, how they're doing as far as the officers as well?

Chief Maddrey: Absolutely. Well, first and foremost, I want each of those victims, everyone to know that they have my prayers, their family has my prayers. I've seen too many gun violence, too much gun violence in my time and with my time in the Police Department.

So our officer was hit in the chest area, right under the armpit, and missed his vest. And actually, he was hit, we don't know yet, we're still investigating, but he was hit multiple times, maybe by shrapnel as well, in the lower extremities as well as the face. But he has an entrance wound right under the left armpit, and a bullet lodged somewhere in his back.

Our perpetrator in this was hit numerous times in the body and in the abdomen area. One of the victims who was on the train was struck in the head, and another male victim, and the female victim was grazed. She's not [inaudible.]

Question: Could the new interim police commissioner answer a question? The question was about, within the past three days, the tasers haven't worked twice. There have been two police news conferences since he took over. Is this something he's going to look into, tasers? I mean, the point of a taser is to stop so we don't get to this moment.

Deputy Commissioner Sheppard: We have our elected police commissioner, but obviously we have our force investigation division that looks into every police-involved shooting. So we go to a thorough investigation on every police-involved shooting, and that's our force investigation division.

Question: Okay, I could ask him another question. How does it feel? Is that okay? This is your first news conference as interim police commissioner. How did it feel?

Interim Commissioner Donlon: It feels fantastic. I've worked for law enforcement for many, many years. I've worked with the NYPD, the Joint Terrorism Task Force. I've had a great relationship throughout the years, along with Mayor Adams here.

When I first met Mayor Adams, he was one of the few individuals that used to come to me and discuss terrorism and I reacted directly to those concerns as a constituent, and that's why I have a tremendous respect for the mayor and what he's done throughout the years. Thank you.

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