The Rev. Al Sharpton urged NYPD officials on Sunday to release “all the video” related to the April 4 shooting of a mentally ill man on a Brooklyn sidewalk, AM New York reported.
Four officers — one in uniform, three plainclothes — gunned down Vassell, 34, in a hail of 10 bullets. They were responding to calls about a Black man with a gun. But it turned out that Vassell was holding a pipe. No firearm was found at the scene.
The New York Times✔@nytimes
He was lunging at passers-by, pointing a pipe as if it were a gun, prompting 911 calls. Locals knew Saheed Vassell was mentally ill. The police officers who shot him did not: https://nyti.ms/2qblXPW
The NYPD released transcripts of the emergency calls and video clips that showed Vassell pointing the pipe at people on the busy Crown Heights neighborhood sidewalk. Yet video of the actual encounter is missing, said Sharpton.
“The video we’re not seeing is of what the police did. When did they arrive? When did they get out of the car? What did they do? What did they say?” Sharpton stated. “This is not fair.”