Man hit by stray police bullet in NYC subway needed cranial surgery: cousin
BROOKLYN - A New Yorker who was hit by a stray police bullet when NYPD officers shot a man at a Brooklyn subway station has undergone cranial surgery to reduce swelling from a bullet wound in his head, according to a relative.
Gregory Delpeche, 49, was riding the subway to work when the shooting occurred on Sunday. Now, he's sedated in a hospital as his loved ones rally around him while doctors attend to his grave injury.
"Right now he's breathing through a tube," Delpeche's cousin, Greg Nougues, told The Associated Press in a phone call on Tuesday as he was on his way to visit him in the hospital. He added that the family was in a "waiting game."
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Nougues said the prognosis is uncertain and doctors had to open up his skull to operate on brain swelling. He said the family is looking for a lawyer.
At a press conference Wednesday, police detailed two interactions within a 10-minute span that they say shows the case was not about fare evasion. It was about an individual suffering from a mental episode who is in danger to subway riders and officers.
In the first interaction, the suspect, identified as Derell Mickles, 37, jumps the turnstile and officers turn him around, asking him to leave the system. The NYPD notes the officers used the discretion they are allowed to exercise, and the department supports the decision to let the individual leave. On Mickles way out the suspect shows, he has a knife.
The second interaction less than 10 minutes later, the suspect again re-enters the subway system in front of the officers without paying. NYPD officials say, at this point, it is the duty of the officers to confront the individual. According to police, Mickles was asked to drop his knife more than 30 times and did not comply.
They tazed Mickles twice, but twice it failed. When Mickles then lunged at the officers, they opened fire.
The NYPD said at the conference they will release the body cam video within the "next day or two", after they receive approval from the Brooklyn district attorney's office to do so.
NYPD subway fare evasion shooting
At around 3 p.m. on Sunday, two police officers noticed a man entering the Sutter Avenue subway station in Brownsville without paying.
The officers followed the man to the elevated subway platform, but he refused orders to stop and muttered threats at the police, Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said at a news briefing later Sunday.
Police shot the man multiple times, but Delpeche and a 26-year-old woman were also hit, along with one of the officers. The woman was grazed by a bullet, and the officer, who was shot near his armpit, is expected to recover.
Nougues confirmed his cousin was shot in a separate car from the alleged fare evader. Police say that man, aged 37, is also in the hospital with gunshot wounds.
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According to Maddrey, the man threatened the officers, and they learned he had a knife. They fired two Tasers, but neither incapacitated him. He then moved toward the officers with the knife, and both officers fired multiple rounds, he said.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams said in his weekly press conference Tuesday that he feels for the innocent bystanders who had been shot, and that he visited the 26-year-old woman in the hospital and spoke with her mother.
"It’s heart-wrenching when an innocent person is the victim when action is taken," Adams told reporters.
Adams said that he's watched the videos and believes the officers responded appropriately.
"I saw the steps those police officers implemented," Adams told reporters. "Over and over again, trying to reason with the perpetrator. And so some people said, ‘Well, you shouldn’t be enforcing fare evasion.’ No. This is not a city where any and everything goes."
Tuesday night protests in Brooklyn
Meanwhile, protests erupted in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, as demonstrators demanded justice following the shooting.
The protest, which started at the train station, continued outside the 73rd Precinct.
According to police, 18 people were taken into custody – 17 of them were released with summonses for disorderly conduct. One was charged and issued a desk appearance ticket and released for possession of a controlled substance.
CEDAR ATTANASIO, with the Associated Press, helped contribute to this report.