The New York attorney general’s office on Thursday released security camera footage and body-worn camera video of the fatal police shooting of an armed man in Brooklyn on Mother’s Day.
The videos, released by the Office of Special Investigations, show the chaotic final minutes of 33-year-old Christian Emile’s life. He was gunned down by police around 1 a.m. on May 12, on a sidewalk at East 52nd Street and Church Avenue in East Flatbush.
The clear images bolster the claims by police at the time that Emile wielded a handgun when he was fired upon by members of the NYPD. An attorney for Emile’s family said the videos still raised questions about whether the use of deadly force was necessary. Both the NYPD and the attorney general’s Office of Special Investigations are investigating.
The videos show Emile milling about with others on the sidewalk before a passing NYPD patrol car stops. Police said at the time they had spotted Emile pointing a handgun at another person. One video, with no audio, shows Emile, clearly pointing a finger down the street.
The violence unfolded quickly as police arrived on the scene.
Surveillance video from a deli shows Emile attempting to flee with three officers, now out of the patrol car, close on his heels. At the 4:50 minute-mark, the video shows Emile in the street maneuvering around a parked car. Flashes are seen from devices in the hands of two officers; police reported earlier that officers had also used a stun gun as they tried to subdue Emile.
In the video footage, Emile falls to the ground, stands up and continues running from police down the sidewalk. At the 4:54 minute-mark, Emile’s right arm – with a gun in hand – swings behind him in the direction of the officers. The video shows police firing their weapons.
The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the videos’ release. NYPD officials said in a briefing with reporters hours after the shooting that two police officers and a sergeant with the department’s Community Response Team were patrolling when they reported seeing Emile pointing a weapon.
The officers ordered Emile to drop the gun, and one officer “momentarily stunned” him with a Taser as Emile, weapon still in hand, continued running, NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said in the earlier press conference.
“The male got back up, he still had the gun in his hand,” Maddrey said. “He runs back on the sidewalk. The officers give further commands to the male to drop the gun and they fire their weapons.”
Maddrey’s statement did not indicate that Emile was shot from behind or otherwise state the direction of the shots fired at him. Officials displayed a photograph of a handgun they said had been recovered from the scene.
Police shot Emile six times in the head, torso and thigh, according to the city’s medical examiner.
The gun “isn’t pointed at anyone, and he’s fleeing for his life when he’s gunned down from behind,” MK Kaishian, Emile’s family attorney, told Gothamist after viewing the footage.
Police bullets shattered the door and walls of the deli. A shop clerk was grazed by a bullet and hospitalized. A family living next door discovered two more bullet holes in their apartment entrance, and two more bullet holes were discovered in a neighboring karate studio where the storefront window was shattered.
Two Supreme Court cases set the constitutional standard for when police can use deadly force, authorizing it when the officer has “good-faith belief” that the suspect poses “a significant threat of death or serious physical injury.”
Under New York law, police can only use deadly force against someone fleeing officers when they “reasonably” believe that the person tried to commit a felony and is armed with a deadly weapon, or if they believe that person threatened imminent physical force against someone else.
NYPD guidelines state deadly physical force against a person “can only be used to protect [police] and/or the public from imminent serious physical injury or death.”
Bennett Gershman, a law professor at Pace University and former prosecutor, commenting ahead of the release of the videos, said a fleeing armed suspect would constitute an “immediate, direct threat” against whom the use of deadly force would be justified.
“That’s what a police officer is supposed to do, allay serious danger in the community,” Gershman said.
Only one of the officers turned on their body-worn camera at the start of the incident, according to Kaishian. A second officer turned on his camera while applying chest compressions to Emile after the shooting. Officers are required to have their cameras on during interactions with anyone suspected of criminal activity and during all uses of force, according to NYPD policy.
The officers involved were Sergeant Kyle Sforza, Officer Brian Mejia-Morel and Officer Alexander Campos, Kaishian said. The NYPD did not respond to questions seeking any additional information about the officers.
The NYPD’s Force Investigation Division is investigating the case, as it does with all fatal police shootings. According to records, Emile was arrested three times in 2006 and once again in 2007 for robbery with a firearm.
The night Emile was killed, he threw a birthday party for his 5-year-old daughter. The day was busy, with family driving around Queens to pick up a cake, cupcakes and patties, Emile’s girlfriend, Jovanna Gayle, said.
Emile and Gayle had gotten back together after dating as kids, Gayle said. The two were junior high prom dates decades ago at I.S. 285, less than a mile from where Emile died.
“He got on a rollercoaster with me on our first date in Coney Island,” Gayle said. “He was so scared … He put his hoodie on and zipped it all the way up.”
Gayle said she pushed Emile to try new things, like parasailing, ziplining and even swimming with sharks. Emile had recently gotten his first passport and the couple had a flight to St. Martin scheduled for three days after Emile died.
“He told everyone that there’s more to life” outside Flatbush, Gayle said.
Tarnisha Woolard, Emile’s mother, spoke through tears about losing her son on Mother’s Day.
“There’s no accountability when they’re wrong,” she said of the police.
“It’s only when we’re wrong.”