Man shot by NYPD at Brooklyn subway stop can't walk, his attorney says
A man police shot on a crowded Brooklyn subway platform on Sunday after he allegedly skipped the fare and threatened NYPD officers with a knife remains in a hospital bed and unable to walk, his attorney said on Friday.
"I don't know if that's something that's going to be permanent or temporary, but he's obviously in very bad shape as a result of being shot by the police," lawyer Jonathan Fink said in a video arraignment for 37-year-old Derell Mickles, who faces charges of attempted assault, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing and fare evasion in connection with the incident.
Mickles pleaded not guilty to the charges at the hearing in Brooklyn Supreme Court. Judge Danny Chun ordered him to be held on $200,000 cash bail, $1.5 million insurance company bond or $1.5 million partially secured bond.
As of roughly 4 p.m. on Friday, the NYPD hadn't yet made good on a promise to release police body-worn camera footage of the incident — in which officers also shot and injured three other people — within days. Several city councilmembers, advocacy organizations and family members of a 49-year-old bystander who was shot in the head have called for the immediate release of the footage and questioned whether the officers' use of force was warranted.
Police say that on Sunday afternoon , officers used their Tasers on and shot Mickles after he wouldn't stop during a pursuit over his alleged fare evasion at the Sutter Avenue L train station in Brownsville. They also say he advanced on the officers with a knife.
Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday praised the NYPD for showing what he called a "great level of restraint" during the incident, despite the bloody outcome. Police initially said they had recovered a knife from the scene, but later said it was actually a different knife from the one Mickles is accused of wielding. They said a man who lives in a homeless shelter took Mickles' knife from the scene amid the chaos.
Fink said on Friday he believes there "might be a strong argument that there was disproportionate force used by the police in this case." He added that he was eager to see the body-worn camera footage from the NYPD.
Mickles faces seven to 20 years in prison for the charge of attempting to assault a police officer, prosecutor Steven Bravo said at the hearing. He said that allegation and Mickles' prior "contacts with the criminal justice system" were reasons for the judge to set bail and not release the defendant on his own recognizance.
Mickles, who was wearing a hospital gown and appeared to have a bandage on his left arm, appeared conscious and alert throughout the proceeding. Hospital monitors beeped audibly in the background.
Calls for transparency
Family members of Gregory Delpeche – the bystander officers shot in the head – are among those calling for police to release body-worn camera footage of the incident.
"I believe that the NYPD was reckless in dispersing their guns in front of citizens, and I just think there should be an investigation," Gregory Nougues, one of Delpeche's cousins, said earlier this week.
Family members say Delpeche was riding the L train to work on Sunday when he was struck by police gunfire. He was still in critical condition at Kings County Hospital on Friday, where family members said doctors had to remove part of his skull to relieve swelling in his brain.
"It is critical that such an incident on our subway system is not repeated or normalized," City Council Majority Whip Selvena Brooks-Powers and Public Safety Committee Chair Yusef Salaam said in a joint statement this week.
The Council's Progressive Caucus has also called for the NYPD to release body-worn camera footage.
