CONTACT: Mariah McGough, mariah@vocal-ny.org 

VOCAL-NY CONDEMNS NYPD MASS SUBWAY SHOOTING 

Shooting Comes on Heels of NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban’s Resignation; 23 New Yorkers Have Been Killed Across the State by Police This Year Alone

NEW YORK — This past Sunday at the Sutter Avenue L train stop in Brooklyn, NYPD officers opened fire at someone they claim evaded paying the $2.90 subway fare, subsequently injuring four people. The neighborhood surrounding this train station is one of the poorest in the City, and also is one of the NYPD’s highest fare evasion enforcement areas. VOCAL-NY unequivocally condemns the irresponsible and dangerous acts of the NYPD putting the lives’ of everyday New Yorkers at risk and demands that the NYPD be removed from fare enforcement.  

“What the police did was a reckless disregard for human life,” said D’Juan Collins, a leader with VOCAL-NY’s Civil Rights Union. “They violate people’s rights because they feel like they’re above the law specifically because of qualified immunity. If they were held responsible for their actions they wouldn’t be endangering people.They feel like they can justify their misconduct by saying that the other person had “a knife”. That doesn’t justify violating people’s rights and putting people in danger.”

BACKGROUND:

Jumping a turnstile should not be a potential death sentence. 23 people have been killed by police in the state of New York this year alone — 7 more people were killed in New York this August than the previous year.

Earlier this year Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams flooded our subway stations with state police officers and National Guard troops. The increase in police personnel and increase in police violence does not make subways safer. 

This shooting also occurs on the heels of an ongoing federal corruption probe by the FBI, forcing former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban to resign. This shooting, the corruption investigation, and the many other civil rights violations by the NYPD is just further evidence that the NYPD believe they are above the law and even the most minor infractions can be met with deadly force.

VOCAL-NY demands that NYPD be removed from all enforcement of so-called crimes of poverty as well as enforcement related to homelessness, drug use and mental health.

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