By Joy Bergmann
An off-duty NYPD officer working security at the Duane Reade located at 2522 Broadway [94th Street] noticed two men, aged 42 and 66, getting into a verbal dispute inside the store around 7:00 a.m. Friday morning, an NYPD spokesperson told WSR.
According to NYPD, the officer asked the men to step outside. Once outdoors, the 42-year-old man allegedly stabbed the 66-year-old man. The man with the knife then fled toward Amsterdam Avenue.
The officer gave chase.
On Amsterdam Avenue, between 94th and 95th Streets, the man reportedly turned toward the officer with the knife still in hand. The officer then fired his weapon, hitting the suspect, NYPD said.
The 66-year-old stabbing victim was transported to an area hospital and is reportedly “not likely” to die; the 42-year-old suspect who was shot was sent to the hospital and is reportedly “not likely” to die, NYPD said.
Officials would not comment on the nature of the men’s injuries, nor identify any of the parties or name the police officer’s home precinct.
Shortly after the incident, WSR attempted to speak with 24th Precinct commanding officer Deputy Inspector Naoki Yaguchi at the scene. He said he was unable to comment at this time.
We will update this post if more information becomes available.
UPDATE 2:00 pm: In a statement issued Friday afternoon, the NYPD said the suspect, 42, received gunshot wounds to his left arm and leg; the stabbing victim, 66, was slashed in his left arm. Both men were being treated at Mount Sinai Morningside [St. Luke’s] Hospital. The officer received a medical evaluation at Mount Sinai East Hospital.
Bravo to this police officer for keeping us safe!
I just hope they don’t arrest him for police brutality.
Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight. Kudos to the officer. Hope he is promoted to detective. Maybe then he won’t have to work a second job. Cops are always on duty.
This officer fired a gun on a public street. That’s not keeping us safe.
He may have prevented injury to himself.
Where do you propose he should shoot if people are in danger? This comment is as ignorant as it gets.
I propose that the cop not have fired a gun out on the street thereby endangering the public.
The only justification would be if the stabber had approached the cop to within stabbing range. So far we have seen no evidence to support this hypothetical. We have read that the cop claims that stabber was coming toward him. NO, cops are not to be automatically trusted when making such claims.
I’m sorry you have such angst towards the police. This man had just stabbed someone. So it isn’t a huge leap of logic to assume that he might have also been threatening the cop. And frankly, even if he wasn’t threatening the cop, after stabbing someone, he deserved what was coming to him.
Contrary to popular opinion, the vast majority of police officers are good people trying their best. Yes, there are bad apples, but they are the exception, not the rule. This hatred that some people universally show towards them is no different than saying that a few people from a minority group have committed crimes so everyone in that group is a criminal.
It is sad that Jay and his cop hatred has destroyed this thread. We should have all just ignored him and let him post dozens of times without response.
These two bad guys are off the street. The officer did a great job keeping us all safe.
“two bad guys”
Pretty big leap to call the 66-yr old stabbing victim a “bad guy” based on being involved in a verbal dispute with no other details.
This is a trained police officer with a hand gun shooting someone at close range to defend himself. It is not some crazed lunatic with an AR-15 spraying dozens of bullets recklessly.
With attitudes like yours, I wonder why anyone would choose to be a police officer. Who knows how many lives in the long run (including his own) he saved. He should be praised, no condemned.
Someone who just stabbed another person comes towards you with a knife. How exactly should the police officer have responded?
I really don’t know the best practice but I am guessing a knife in your face is….you are judge going to act.
There have been numerous incidents in NY over the years of police officers unintentionally shooting uninvolved pedestrians in the course of trying to apprehend a suspect; just a few years ago, another officer involved in a pursuit was killed by a colleague’s bullet. In this instance, based on this report, it’s not clear that the officer was actually in immediate danger, though he or she certainly may have been. Whatever the case, the question is a valid one.
The guy just stabbed someone. What should the cop have done? Yes. Cops have killed unarmed civilians. So have civilians with a gun. Yes, cops are supposed to be trained. Ideally no one should shoot a gun. But if someone just stabbed someone else, I sm not sute how the cop is supposed to respond
“Someone who just stabbed another person comes towards you with a knife.”
You’ve confirmed the “comes toward you” claim how?
The cop said so is not valid evidence. You need witnesses that corroborate the claim and ideally you’ll have clear video.
Thank you for being on this story! I walked by the aftermath of it at about 9 a.m. and the cordoned-off area was so large that I expected NY1 to be there. But nope.
Every day I feel like I’m dodging crime in this neighborhood, though. A shooting here, a stabbing there, a random assault x 2 there – all within 25-30 blocks of each other.
Terrifying.
Anyway – great job WSR!
Please stop. All crime is down compared to 1981, especially on the UWS. You are hurting my feelings.
I live around the corner and heard the shots this morning, but hoped they were something else. Thank you West Side Rag for confirming so quickly.
That Duane Reade is an absolute blight in the neighborhood. It only serves shoplifters these days. I always walk past it to the CVS at 93rd and Broadway or 97th and Amsterdam. I’m glad the off duty cops who are usually standing around the store on thier phones actually did something for once, but disappointed it ended in such violence.
Maybe this will bring increased attention and some proactive positive action to start cleaning up this bizzarely grimey, violent area between 93rd and 96th st.
This is crazy. 30-40 min later and those blocks are filled with kids going to school – many of them walking with no / few adults.
I’m glad the guy was caught. And I’m glad neither the officer nor any bystanders were injured. In all, it sounds like good work by the officer.
But:
a) Where were the on-duty cops? This is right by the subway station and normally there are police around. What happened?
b) Why did the officer fire a weapon? Firing at that time at that location doesn’t seem right.
Again, I’m thankful this seems to have turned out as well as could be. But, the circumstances that led to this shooting need to change. The fact that we needed privately hired, off-duty police to go Dirty Harry on a local criminal feels like something is wrong.
Where the social workers and the violence interrupters?
I think we’d be so much better off without opinions like these.
There is blatant disregard for the law in this city. What do we think that the attacker would have put down his knife if the police officer asked him to nicely? Should the police officer should have only been allowed to respond with a knife of his own? I wonder if you found yourself in a situation in which someone stabbed you and was threatening to again, would you want the person who is trying to protect you to not be allowed to use their gun? To likely watch as you get stabbed again? Common sense has been thrown out the window.
“b) Why did the officer fire a weapon? Firing at that time at that location doesn’t seem right. ”
Really? You want to guy with the knife to stab the officer, or other people walking by?
Of course he needed to be neutralized, and he was!
Kudos to the police officer.
Job well done.
Hot take: I like the message this sends, you cannot get away with just stabbing someone and certainly not when wielding a knife at a cop.
No, ben,
The message here is that cops are allowed to fire guns on busy streets. You can look up how many times that’s gone bad.
Jay – Can you please provide the statistics for the number of times an officer has discharged his weapon on a public street and then provide the number of times an innocent bystander has been inadvertently struck.
Jay: please tell us what this police officer should have done when someone was coming at him with a knife who had just used that knife moments earlier. Bake him cookies? Start a go fund me for him? Tell him he was going to shoot but doesn’t want to offend Woke UWSers like Jay do instead will potentially die of stab wounds?
The anti-police Woke crowd here is almost as bad as the Trumpers…
“please tell us what this police officer should have done when someone was coming at him with a knife”
You’ve confirmed the “coming at” claim how?
The same way you’ve confirmed the opposite.
The shot is a fact. The location is a fact. The claims are a fact. What really happened will be established. So why are you even talking, when no one will have full information until the investigation is concluded? So you can tell us that you’d trust a criminal more than a cop? Good for you.
Trumpers? On here? There are so many? Please tell me where to find them, I want fwends!
Pretty much video cameras on each building. There will most likely be video of shooting. Prepare for usual drama.
I’m having a hard time with an off-duty cop opening fire on a fleeing criminal in the street. 7:00am is early but not THAT early.
Genuinely curious how he SHOULD have responded. He shot someone in the arm. The person he shot just stabbed someone. What would you recommend?
LL, police officers are not trained to shoot a person in the arm. Police officers are trained that, if they are to discharge their firearm, they are to shoot at center mass. When an officer shoots a perp in the arm, it means they missed but still managed to hit the person. A police officer shooting a person in the arm, or shooting the gun out of a perp’s hand, or anything of the like, only happens in the movies. Why do you think the target practice papers only show head and torso, with accuracy points being the center of the head and center of the chest?
3 of the same comments, never responding to the question, “what should he have done”? Interesting, Jay.
I think Jay is a Russian troll.
That is giving him too much credit. He is an UWS moron. He thinks he is smarter than the rest of us and has some unique, enlightened opinion. People in the rest of America point at people like Jay and assume all New Yorkers are out of touch and nuts. Thanks Jay! This anti-police attitude is what gets Republicans elected.
Dude, Jay has been making rational arguments and discussing the issue at hand, you just made it all into a big personal attack, in fact, one against the majority of UWSers, the way you phrased it.
Why don’t you deal with Jay’s substantive arguments?
Thanks to the police offer for his courage and acting the way he did.
What we don’t need more of are representatives like Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan who equates policing with slavery.
Councilperson Jordan has also, according to the NYT, warned that the shooting could be used “as an excuse to over-police and continue oppression in the community.”
Hmmm…if Ms. Jordan were less “Woke” and more “Awake” she would know that the REAL oppression in her community comes from gang violence and other assorted bad guys terrorizing the “nabe”.
As PBA President Pat Lynch said of her remarks, “They don’t reflect what police officers hear from her constituents.”
Does anyone else wonder if there wasn’t scaffolding on literally every block from 93-96th we would have less crime/loitering in this corridor? Something I’ve definitely noticed after living in the area for 12 years and seeing a major shift now that there are these dark/dry areas for people to congregate outdoors.
This officer did what was right and told them to leave the store where people were. The man with the knife STABBED someone with an officer right there. The officers wear their uniforms in the Duane Reade to help keep it safe. The officer then followed the man with a knife and the stabber came at the officer. You do not just let the stabber go and possibly try to kill someone else because it’s a public street. The officer used his skills and kept the pedestrians safe while getting someone off the street who just STABBED someone. COMMON SENSE PEOPLE. Crimes have to be STOPPED.
And kudos to the officer for shooting non-lethally, just to disarm.
One-man stabs another in front of the officer, clearly demonstrating that he is willing to wield the knife with deadly-force to do bodily-harm to another person. Officer chases the suspect, yelling for him to stop/drop the knife. Then he turns toward the officer with the knife still refusing to drop it. How close would you let him get to you knowing he used it to stab someone else right in front of you? How far back to B’way would you back up to where there were many more people he might hurt? He was clearly willing to use the knife.
While I understand the need for the officer to defend himself and to stop the perpetrator, I’m wary of supporting the use of a gun here without more information being released. Off-duty police security officers come armed, meaning it is extremely likely he had a taser and cuffs. Security footage is significant here though based on the 20ft rule and whether or not the cop had drawn prior to the perpetrator turning around. For those unfamiliar, the 20ft rule is based on data that shows a knife-wielding opponent can reach and stab you before you are able to shoot them (this timing is based on you drawing the gun, aiming, and firing). So if the cop already had gone for his gun (rather than a taser) before the perp turned on him, the 20ft rule should not be used as defense of the officer’s actions. If he was empty-handed and the perp was nearly 20ft or closer, he has an argument for having used a gun because of the danger to self predicted by the timing. The question here is not only about the use of force, but also about accuracy of aim. Even trained folks see a decrease in accuracy in high anxiety situations. The data supports this. While we want our officers to be proactive, we need to be careful about the types of force we are encouraging and what the potential effects will be on community members.
When someone comes at you with a knife, who just used it to stab another person, perhaps you can try to talk & discuss with him a better solution. Let’s see how that works out for you and most people.
FFS. You clearly have too much time on your hands.
These two will be out of hospital and stabbing at the rest of us soon, just wait. Good for the cop.
Interesting that the two guys are being treated for their injuries at the same hospital. Maybe they’ll get a room together and become best of friends.💖
Bravo for this off duty officer! Need more heros like him. And on the morning of a massive funeral for a 22 year old officer who was killed in the line of duty, some UWSers are “unsure” how they feel about using a gun in self defense. Amazing some of these comments forget the 2nd Amendment.
“The Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense”
The majority’s conclusion is wrong for two independent reasons. The first reason is that set forth by Justice Stevens—namely, that the Second Amendment protects militia-related, not self-defense-related, interests.
The second independent reason is that the protection the Amendment provides is not absolute.
Thank you to this brave police officer for helping to keep us safe. Unfortunately, it’s likely that the stabber will not face charges and will be back on the streets soon to threaten other people.
I was wondering the same thing about charges.
If Bragg has his way the guy will be back in Duane Reade harassing people as soon as he gets out of the hospital.
Hopefully he is brought up on two additive charges – first, for stabbing someone. Second, for threatening the off duty officer. The officer was the witness to both so this should be an open and shut case. No leniency.
Nice reporting. Thank you.
FOLKS – THE POLICEMAN – UNDER THREAT, SHOT THE PERPETRATOR IN THE ARM! HE DIDN’T KILL HIM. HE RENDERED HIM HARMLESS, TO HIMSELF AND OTHERS. GOOD JOB.
It’s sad that a drugstore even needs security in the first place.
KUDOS to the brave officer, working two jobs to help keep us safe, for doing what he was forced to do to stop a violent criminal from stabbing him.. and getting away after stabbing another! Sooooo tired of soft-on-crimers who are afraid to hurt violent thugs’ feelings. They should be caged. STOP THE INSANITY.
What is it with Duane Reade? All the stores have become shoplifters’ paradise. Are they designed wrong? Inside jobs? Has anyone ever looked into this?
Both.
Signals intelligence and human assets on the ground report that the thieves have an insider at Corporate, leaking the highly complicated floor plans, so they can engage in sophisticated hit planning, quickly target high-value items like soap, aspirin, $2 snacks and beer, and exit surreptitiously within seconds – all without having to dig an escape tunnel.
Measures are being taken to apprehend the insider (sting operation in progress) and harden the store design. Security contractors (ex-Navy, ex-DIA, ex-Blackwater) are serving as advisors and recommend moving the birthday card section closer to the door to create a distractive smokescreen for direct kinetic action against the perpetrators – i.e., leave a mop for the thieves to trip on.
Post of the day!
In all seriousness though, a manager at a local CVS recently told me that the corporate directive is to not try to apprehend or stop anyone shoplifting. The risk and potential cost of injury is outweighed by the fact that the products taken are likely covered by insurance
So why is Amsterdam Avenue still sealed off? This is creating an enormous traffic snarl. (And those of us who live in the neighborhood have been listening to truck horns nonstop all day.)
I live on 93rd and Amsterdam. That stretch of Broadway between 93rd (just past that lovely church) to 95th (both sides of Broadway) under the scaffolding is at all times a place where shady characters loiter. I (as many locals) avoid that Duane Reade because it has a reputation for shoplifters and panhandlers. Simply put it is an unsafe stretch of 3 blocks.
There are many children and schools on that stretch of the 90s below 96th, and we need to feel safe. We need more policing not just below ground in the 96th subway stop, but also above ground on that stretch btwn 93rd to 96th on Broadway. I hope someone from NYPD is reading this so that they are more aware of the dangers on that stretch that all the locals already know, and something can be done.
Bravo to that brave officer.
Thankfully, the NYPD does have officers very aware of the crimes happening on Broadway and the 90’s and they walk up and down the blocks as much as possible when they can. They have limited resources but I know personally they are attentive and trying their best under the current circumstances to help this area. Once they make arrests, they have to watch the people arrested walk out an hour later, only to see them again on the same streets. There is data proving this every day.
Good shooting, next.
those of you condemning the policeman defending himself from being the second stabbing victim of this felon are the reason we have a da like bragg who validates criminal behavior and crimes that are making this once very safe city a dangerous place. i hope you are pleased with the out of control crime, shooting, shoplifting that were gone until the feb laddie, cuomo and our corrupt state legislators made crime acceptable and victims deserving of being victims.the shots woke me up and i saw the criminal laying in the street. five police cars were there in two minutes. thanks nypd.
Erect a statue of the officer. I’m tired of criminals operating without any fear around here.
I was at CVS at 93 & Broadway a few weeks ago. While there a cop hauled in a man that had shoplifted so many things. He forced the man to put everything back. I don’t know if the man was arrested. It really doesn’t matter where we shop or go, the fact is serious crime is increasing in this once safe neighborhood, in murder and mugging. Bible prophecy is being fulfilled.
I was in that Duane Reade on Christmas Eve past midnight; a woman was one foot away from me, shoveling so many items into her large bag, blatantly, I thought it was a joke. She even took several sale signs in her haul. I looked over to the hapless, lone salesman, who stood there and did nothing. As the woman ran out, she turned back with “Merry Christmas!” The clerk shrugged his shoulders — said there was no security that night and that there was nothing he could do. A tiny part of me said to myself, well, this poor woman is in need, on Christmas, so let her be. But most of me was really sad for the neighborhood, the store (which I happen perversely love), and the clerks, who must be numb by now to all the shoplifting.
In addition to our deteriorating neighborhoods, besieged stores and helpless clerks, I’m sad for each individual:
The costs of brazen thefts and petty shopliftings necessarily gets passed on to us — the honest consumer.
Yes because Duane Reade was always our cherished neighborhood staple for affordable products and community. /s
I assume most of the commenters voted for DeBlasio (twice) – I think you share the blame and the cop is bailing you out of your lousy choices
Ron, take a dispassionate look at crime data in the US and see where New York stands, ok?
And for those so inclined, break it down by party membership of the mayor in major US cities, and see where we stand.
NYC crime stats are a joke. As discussed anecdotally in other comments here, cops don’t even bother with many crimes because they know they won’t be prosecuted.
Dermet Shea was on NY1 all the time and would repeatedly say his hands were tied.
A few high profiles bad moves by the police have gotten all the press. Please let them do their job and prosecute criminals. And the police union needs to not support the few bad cops in their ranks – citizens would be a lot more supportive.
Thank you Ron! He said it all in a nutshell!
The fact that the usual list of activists and protesters haven’t taken to the streets yet probably means the cop’s description of events is legit.
Thank you Officer! The criminal anarchy must finally be contained.
As an ex cop I can tell you this officer is being chewed out behind closed doors for a reckless shot, but Adams doesn’t want to piss off the brass yet so they’ll use this as a good PR opportunity to bring back their beloved gun squad instead of letting the papers have a field day. Any politician knows the PR you get in the first 90 days will shape your tenure for the next few years more than your policy, and luckily for Adams, he has a few very high profile headlines to his advantage to sway the public towards his ideas about policing in an otherwise hostile city. Glad I got out, 20 is plenty.
The cop deserve a medal.
A number of retailers are instructing their employees to not confront shoplifters (thieves) or anyone causing problems. That includes those seen taking things off shelves and then asking
for a refund. “I lost my receipt.” No more calling the manager, he’s probably sitting in his office watching the whole thing on his security monitor.