The NYPD released this video Thursday, which it says shows Saheed Vassell pointing a metal pipe at people in Crown Heights. Vassell was shot and killed by police Wednesday after the NYPD says it received 911 calls for a man pointing a gun at people. (Courtesy NYPD) pic.twitter.com/kEcV4VRmGL
— Spectrum News NY1 (@NY1) April 5, 2018
Yet all the same people are out claiming the cops are racist for shooting him.
Via NY Post:
New York’s Finest are on the hot seat again after four officers fatally shot an unarmed Brooklyn man, Saheed Vassell, on Wednesday. They don’t deserve it — but the city mental-health system does.
The officers were responding to calls of a man using a gun to terrorize folks, including an adult with a kid. When they got to the scene, Vassell, as video shows, took what police called “a two-handed shooting stance” and pointed the “gun” at the cops.
Except it was a piece of a welding torch that merely looked like a firearm.
Critics say the cops should’ve asked him to raise his hands before firing, or at least aimed for his leg. But the video suggests the officers had scant time to react; they were told he had a weapon and believed they saw one — pointing straight at them. They had every right to defend themselves. (As for aiming at his leg, cops only do that in movies; the risk of missing is too great.)
Vassell had 28 prior arrests, including some where he was labeled “emotionally disturbed,” and at least two admissions to a psych hospital. His father says he was bipolar and had been off his meds “for years.”
This was a horrible tragedy. But equally troubling is that countless others like Vassell roam the streets with mental problems that could lead to similar deadly incidents.