Unarmed Man Is Charged With Wounding Bystanders Shot by Police Near Times Square

[lostinblue 1,989]

Unarmed Man Is Charged With Wounding Bystanders Shot by Police Near Times Square

An unarmed, emotionally disturbed man shot at by the police as he was lurching around traffic near Times Square in September has been charged with assault, on the theory that he was responsible for bullet wounds suffered by two bystanders, according to an indictment unsealed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Wednesday.

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

The man, Glenn Broadnax, 35, of Brooklyn, created a disturbance on Sept. 14, wading into traffic at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue and throwing himself into the path of oncoming cars.

A curious crowd grew. Police officers arrived and tried to corral Mr. Broadnax, a 250-pound man. When he reached into his pants pocket, two officers, who, the police said, thought he was pulling a gun, opened fire, missing Mr. Broadnax, but hitting two nearby women. Finally, a police sergeant knocked Mr. Broadnax down with a Taser.

The shootings once again raised questions about the police use of firearms in crowded areas and drew comparisons to a shooting a year ago, when officers struck nine bystanders in front of the Empire State Building when they killed an armed murder suspect.

Initially Mr. Broadnax was arrested on misdemeanor charges of menacing, drug possession and resisting arrest. But the Manhattan district attorney’s office persuaded a grand jury to charge Mr. Broadnax with assault, a felony carrying a maximum sentence of 25 years. Specifically, the nine-count indictment unsealed on Wednesday said Mr. Broadnax “recklessly engaged in conduct which created a grave risk of death.”

“The defendant is the one that created the situation that injured innocent bystanders,” said an assistant district attorney, Shannon Lucey.

The two police officers, who have not been identified, have been placed on administrative duty and their actions are still under investigation by the district attorney’s office, law enforcement officials said. They also face an internal Police Department inquiry.

Mr. Broadnax’s lawyer, Rigodis Appling, said Mr. Broadnax suffered from anxiety and depression and had been disoriented and scared when the police shot at him. He was reaching for his wallet, not a gun, she said. “Mr. Broadnax never imagined his behavior would ever cause the police to shoot at him,” she said.

After his arrest, Mr. Broadnax was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center, where he told a detective that “he was talking to dead relatives in his head and that he tried throwing himself in front of cars to kill himself,” according to a court document released on Wednesday.

A judge ordered a mental evaluation, and a psychiatrist later found Mr. Broadnax competent to stand trial, Ms. Appling said.

On Wednesday, Justice Gregory Carro set bail at $100,000 bond or $50,000 cash.

Mariann Wang, a lawyer representing Sahar Khoshakhlagh, one of the women who was wounded, said the district attorney should be pursuing charges against the two officers who fired their weapons in a crowd, not against Mr. Broadnax. “It’s an incredibly unfortunate use of prosecutorial discretion to be prosecuting a man who didn’t even injure my client,” she said. “It’s the police who injured my client.”

A version of this article appears in print on December 5, 2013, on page A32 of the New York edition with the headline: Unarmed Man Is Charged With Wounding Bystanders Shot by Police Near Times Sq..

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/nyregion/unarmed-man-is-charged-with-wounding-bystanders-shot-by-police-near-times-square.html?ref=nyregion&_r=1&

Looks like they are making up for stop and frisk

[Pooky 3,840]

You have got to be kidding me, right?

[GandD 5,966]

That's quite interesting.

[lostinblue 1,989]

If a cop wants you to do 25 years in prison all he has to do is shoot someone near you .

[GandD 5,966]

And maybe sprinkle some crack on you.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Ridiculous.

[luckytxn 2,265]

smh

[TBoneTX 46,208]

And maybe sprinkle some crack on you.

This has essentially been done. If one is ever stopped and the encounter goes south, and you're "asked" whether it's OK if a sniff-drugging dog investigates your vehicle, state very clearly that the K-9 officer is not to touch the vehicle. It's too easy for him to touch a baggie of marijuana in his pocket, brush his hand on the vehicle, and get the dog to alert.

In regard to the original story, there are two de-Constitutionalized zones in the U.S.: within a 100-mile radius of the Mexican border, and Ciudad Nueva York.

Edited December 6, 2013 by TBoneTX