Police opened fire on a subway platform in Brooklyn during a confrontation with an alleged fare-beater, striking the man cops said was armed with a knife, two straphangers caught in the fray, and one of the firing officers, NYPD officials said Sunday.

One of those two passengers hit by the cops’ bullets, a 49-year-old man, was hospitalized in critical condition after he was hit struck in the head, according to the NYPD.

The two officers who opened fire were assigned to patrol the Sutter Avenue subway stop in the 73rd precinct when they spotted a man skip the station turnstile and walk through an open gate toward the train platform, Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey explained at an evening press conference from Brookdale Hospital.

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldM
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    6 months ago

    This is like an unfunny onion article. The fact that there can be civilian casualties in NYPDs war on fare jumpers is just shameful. It’s not for the money. They spend $150 million a year to recover $100k. Beyond an embarrassment.

  • TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    6 months ago

    Our system of regulation has become dysfunctional.

    Our police system turns human beings into violence machines. If our police system creates behavior like this from the people closest to it then that system is broken.

    The officers are doing what humans do when given too much raw force.

    Change the system and the officers will change with it.

  • Tiefling IRL@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    NYPD goes HARD on toll jumpers, but there’s virtually zero enforcement on traffic and cars. Everywhere I go I see assholes with illegally modified vehicles, degenerates speeding down shoulders and medians, motorcycles on crowded sidewalks and pedestrian paths, and too many drunk drivers to count. There are so many cases where one pig parked on the shoulder during rush hour would fund the city budget for a year.

    Instead we get whole families of pigs loitering by the turnstiles

    • Moneo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      6 months ago

      Apparently we’re calling commuters “straphangers” now too. I wonder if the NYPD will shoot at speeding wheelgrippers next.

      • Gimpydude@lemmynsfw.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        6 months ago

        The subways used to have straps on the bars to hold on to during the ride. They’ve been called straphangers for a very long time. In the 80’s one of my brothers was part of the Straphangers Campaign.

  • Fades@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    straphangers

    What the hell, I’ve NEVER heard or read this word in my entire life.

    The first known use of straphanger was in 1896. Defined as a standing passenger in a subway, streetcar, bus, or train who clings for support to one of the short straps or similar devices placed along the aisle

    I guess that might explain part of that… but I’m seeing consisntent uses from merriam webster’s recent examples on the web for the word.

    Strangely enough there is a military alternative definition:

    “Straphanger” seems to have a different, and negative connotation in current US military parlance. Since this is a militarily-oriented movie, it is probably the definition that applies.

    In an article unrelated to Zero Dark Thirty, I found a reference to strap hangers.

    "We have a saying in the SEAL Teams about the 90-10 rule. It goes: 90% of the guys that make it through Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training are solid Operators and go on to do great things. The other 10% are constantly bringing the community and their team down. We are always trying to cull the 10% out of the herd. In the military these guys are commonly referred to as “strap hangers”....grabbing at the straps of the good men that participated in this operation."
    

    source

  • chakan2@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    Maddrey said the officers followed the man, each firing a Taser which proved ineffective in subduing the man. He then exited the train while it was still at the station and charged the officers with the knife, the chief said.

  • Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    NYPD pays $126,000 annual salary, that’s about $60 an hour or $1 a minute, 4 cops respond to the fair jumper, if they spent more than 45 seconds on this it costs the city more than the fair was worth.

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 months ago

      The point is not how much it costs.

      The point is that a poor person needs punishment, and if they’re lucky, they might get to shoot somebody.

  • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    Ahh yes. Nothing like killing a perp and a few bystanders for a few dollars’ worth of fare. USA! USA!

    • Lets_Eat_Grandma@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 months ago

      I think if people had even more guns this could have been avoided. What if there was a six year old with a 22 there to respond to the gunshots with some of his own? maybe less people would be dead.

      Guns make everyone way safer. We need to start providing them in utero.

    • superkret@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      6 months ago

      They stopped him for a few dollars’ worth of fare.
      They shot him for charging at them with a knife.

        • ObjectivityIncarnate@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          6 months ago

          The statement by the Department Chief literally references that there is body cam footage, that is the source of information for the statement.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            6 months ago

            No no no. They mean the footage being released for public scrutiny. The police have lied about the body camera footage before.

      • trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        6 months ago

        The uniformed duo followed the alleged fare-beater up the stairs to the elevated L train platform around 3 p.m., when they gave him commands to stop and turn around. Maddrey said during a verbal altercation, they “became aware of a knife.”

        Body-worn camera footage, which Maddrey said he reviewed before the press conference, allegedly showed the man make a verbal threat to the officers. He told the cops, “I’m going to kill you if you don’t stop following me,” the chief said.

        As the encounter continued to escalate, a northbound L train pulled into the station. The train cars opened and the man jumped inside, according to police.

        Where is this knife charge mentioned?

        • jpreston2005@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          6 months ago

          Maddrey said the officers followed the man, each firing a Taser which proved ineffective in subduing the man. He then exited the train while it was still at the station and charged the officers with the knife, the chief said.

          it was the next sentence from what you copied lol

    • TheFriar@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      6 months ago

      This has been an ongoing problem in the city. Fuckin Mayor Officer Landlord has been dumping millions into multiple cops sitting on platforms, on their phones, watching for people jumping the 2.90 fare. Which they just raised from 2.70. They’re more than spending what they’re hypothetically losing on fare jumpers. Neoliberal capitalist bullshit in action.

      • Cenzorrll@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        6 months ago

        Meanwhile in Albuquerque we’ve made buses free because the fare infrastructure costs more than to run the buses.

    • ObjectivityIncarnate@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      6 months ago

      They shot because the guy charged at them with a knife, not because of the fare. OP’s thread title is deliberately misleading, in a desperate attempt to twist this into ACAB fuel.

      Any bystander injuries are to be blamed on the aggressor Mr. Knifey.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        6 months ago

        They chased someone into a train over 3 dollars. There is now hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical bills, possibly over a million. Because someone “stole” a 3 dollar fare.

        How the police react to stuff is absolutely up for debate. This is why we stopped doing car chases.

        • ObjectivityIncarnate@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          6 months ago

          If someone runs a red light, and a cop tries to pull them over to give them a ticket, and instead the guy jumps out of the car and tries to attack the cop with a knife and gets shot in self-defense, it is absolutely not accurate to frame that as “cop shot that guy for running a red light”.

          But this is what exactly the OP is trying to do. And that’s bullshit.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            6 months ago

            Police don’t chase for red lights anymore specifically because the damage car chases were doing was out of line with the civil infraction.

    • bean@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      6 months ago

      I know it’s like that by headline, but they repeatedly tried to subdue him and eventually he charged at them with a knife after having said “I’ll kill you”. I don’t know I would hesitate to stop him without my gun if he suddenly ran at me with a knife. I’m just thinking survival, instinctively, and not about bystanders around me in that moment.

      • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        6 months ago

        I’m just thinking survival, instinctively, and not about bystanders around me in that moment.

        Kind of fair point for yourself.

        However I expect more of a trained professional who has repeated firarms training. They should be sesitized to controlling their direction of fire even in an emergency.

        • Rinox@feddit.it
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          6 months ago

          That’s not even the point. The training should have taught them how to de-escalate the situation, or even let it go. They transformed a 3$ fare skipped into a massacre, how’s that normal?

          It’s 3$, if he has a knife, just let him go, it’s not worth the risk. You’ll track him down later and get him without killing him, passerbys and other cops.

          You don’t need to drop a nuke because there’s a pickpocketer somewhere in the city

        • Zink@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          6 months ago

          It really is bizarre how many people seem to just accept lower standards for police than for random Joe gun owner off the street. It’s not confusing though; it’s just another facet of the great team sport of society for many people.

          If we’re supposed to value and respect our police, maybe we should actually expect good things from them!

      • bufalo1973@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        6 months ago

        If a guy doesn’t pay $3, has a knife and threatens the police -> mental problem. The answer isn’t shooting but handling the situation and deescalating.

      • kralk@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        6 months ago

        Ok, so these people are too incompetent to win a 4v1 against an untrained opponent? Is this better somehow?

  • jaschen@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    Can’t we just make the Subway so cheap that it’s not worth jumping the toll? Or make it so low income people get free fares.

    • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      Most americans believe the entire point of transit is to sort people who can afford it from people who cant.

      If mass transit is affordable for all it is literally considered a threat to these pathetic people who would means test their own kids before they gave them food and shelter if it was socially acceptable.

      I was in NYC recently and the amount of wealthier people who just ubered everywhere (or actually just demanded to own a car and drive themselves in the least car friendly place IN THE US) with no consideration for ever using the subway underneath their feet was pretty disgusting and appalling especially coming from somewhere without magic train tunnels underneath my feet that run 24/7…

      Notice all of these narratives run essentially in parallel with a nebulous fear of the subway being stoked by Eric Adams and centrists, they provide a convenient impulse to rationalize taking the easy way out and clogging the streets with another useless car. Kind of like convincing yourself as a kid not to do a chore in the basement because the basement is scaryyyy, I mean look at this video from somebody in another basement experiencing a freak scary incident that would likely never ever happen to me!!!

      I live somewhere with free bus transit in the US, and it is shocking how different it feels and yet also how many successful people around me with working cars just categorically ignore the use or possibility of using busses. The US is really really deeply fucked on this point and it makes me feel awful for the rest of the planet having to deal with our horrendous carbon footprints.

      New York City has so much potential, but it is utterly ruined by rich conservative money suffocating the city in a chokehold.

      I hate the US so much sigh

      • Krauerking@lemy.lol
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        6 months ago

        pathetic people who would means test their own kids before they gave them food and shelter if it was socially acceptable.

        Ahh… I see you have met my dad, who decided only after I called him after having failed my suicide attempt to offer to take me back in after having kicked me out promptly at 18 and then only housed me for 2 months before driving me out to a random street corner and dropping me off saying he had lifted me back up enough for me to handle my own live because I was ruining his “vibe” while having a 3 bedroom house and a job that makes more than half a million a year.

        A man who wouldn’t let me get a drivers license because I wasn’t allowed to touch one of his cars and needed to buy one on my own and figure out how to do it by 16 despite his first 3 cars being bought for him by his parents after he wrecked each previous one.

        Americans are the worst culture. Truly fucking despicable what they think is sane. You only get to buy how you want to be treated and the threshold for the floor of basic human dignity is more than most of us can afford.

        • jaschen@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          6 months ago

          Hey man, suicide is no joke. I hope you found the right help to combat your thoughts and emotions. Just remember that us people here on the internet will miss you if you’re gone.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    This obviously has in part to do with the toxic American gun culture and it’s corrupt and untrained police, but alsonwoth it’s misguided need for what it thinks is justice, and revenge for real or imagined crimes.

    Shoplift something small? In you go with hardened criminals to punish punish punish, fuck you for daring to do that! No rehabilitation, just punish

    A lot of Americans complain about low prison sentences in Europe, not understanding that the focus there is on actually solving the problem of crime, instead of revenge, revenge, revenge.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 months ago

      The problem is rooted in prison spending moving from a social cost to a private revenue stream.

      It’s the classic Cobra Effect of economics. Monetizing the solution to a problem creates an incentive to increase the instances of said problem.

      In this case, we have criminalized the free use of public transportation in order to justify more spending on policing.

  • Krauerking@lemy.lol
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    Can we just go back to having a legitimate conductor who also has a protected union job that is properly staffed so that they can do occasional walks through the train to be able to offer ticketing services that allow for rapid and mass transit for the masses that connect us in a way that allows for fucking easy travel.

    Please! Or can we at least stop treating trains like an old existing extension of the singularly for profit monopolies paid by the government they were and just straight up have been allowed to become again!

  • Sgt_choke_n_stroke@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    Imagine the 2 by standards suing the department getting and 6 million dollars. Because shooting a guy for jumping a turn style worth 2.90.

    This is a joke they need to take that money out of the police officers pension.

        • Malfeasant@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          6 months ago

          Since when are stills taken from video that clear? Especially during a scuffle, and with questionable lighting… Something doesn’t add up.

          • capital@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            edit-2
            6 months ago

            There’s no arguing with you if there’s no sources you believe.

            You could say the same if I linked the whole damn video.

            • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              edit-2
              6 months ago

              While they’re being intentionally conspiratorial (For fuck’s sake, stills from an uncompressed video are that clear), that image doesn’t tell us anything. We don’t know who the person in that image even was, and it could just as easily have been a bystander, the alleged fare jumper or the cop who got shot that was wearing plain clothes. They could easily answer this question by just releasing the bodycam footage, but they haven’t done that, and time and time again we’ve seen the NYPD refuse to release any of the footage except some juicy still images to cover up gross misconduct of an officer. Personally I doubt this is the case, but the time when I could blindly accept that has long passed.

              • capital@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                0
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                6 months ago

                that image doesn’t tell us anything.

                The comment I responded to says,

                Probably because there was no knife in the footage.

                So, I provided a still of the footage showing a knife.

                Sure, we don’t know for sure who it is but I have a pretty good guess.

                I too await the full footage.

                • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  6 months ago

                  In the most pedantic and exacting way, you might be right!

                  The topic here (and my original point) is that the image you’ve linked doesn’t tell us anything except that the NYPD have claimed it’s a still from the bodycam footage. We don’t have any of the context it occurs within, so while yes that is an image of a knife, we don’t actually know that it’s a still taken from bodycam footage of the incident. The original poster’s point was that at the time we didn’t have any evidence that they aren’t just making shit up. We still don’t. And as much as I’d love for the NYPD not to be pulling the same bullshit they always always try to pull, we have no reason to believe that right now. They have earned zero of the credibility you’re affording them.

                  And, really, a personal appeal: Is it a reasonable use of your time to try and nickle-and-dime the issue until an incident where the NYPD escalated a $2.90 situation to the point that two innocent bystanders were shot somehow becomes palatable? Who cares if he had a knife, even according to them he did not pose a present threat until he was provoked. The NYPD is a goddamn army with the most advanced surveillance system in the entire world and that dude was on a train. They absolutely could have just mailed the ticket to his house like they do with 90% of farejumpers, or if they wanted to be bastards, they could have followed him via surveillance, isolated and then arrested him safely elsewhere. They do that all the time in other cities. Engaging a potentially violent subject on a fucking subway train is beyond inexcusable no matter what the guy did, because while he’s a shithead for (in all likelihood) trying to stab the cops, the cops should not have allowed themselves to be in that situation in the first place. It’s basic shit, volunteers at comic-con can do it, why can’t these inept SOBs?