The surge in urban violence in America seems increasingly related to mental health issues, leading to an endless stream of preventable tragedies.
Such seems to be the case of the recently released footage of a NYPD officer-related shooting from last December, in which a cop is forced to neutralize the suspect that has his mom on a chokehold and threatens to kill her unless the officer shoots him.
On the surface, ‘suicide-by-cop’ if there ever was one.
When police arrived at the scene in Bedford Park, a younger woman ran out of the apartment with apparent slice wounds to her face.
The 911 call told of ‘a perp who might have been on drugs, was acting violently and armed with a knife’.
New York Post reported:
“Video footage released by the NYPD shows the moment an officer kills a man with a single gunshot as the unhinged suspect holds his mother in a chokehold while screaming that he had a knife inside a Bronx apartment last December.
Police officer Alex Morgese fired a single shot at suspect Michael Dotel, striking him in the head just inches from the victim’s face during the tense confrontation on Dec. 23, according to the footage and police.
The 30-year-old suspect fell backward to the floor and was later pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital.”
Dotel held the victim in a chokehold: his right arm around her neck, his left hand applying extra pressure.
Police opened fire as the victim was losing consciousness.
“’Do it, she’s gonna get it’, Dotel shouts at Morgese and his partner as he holds his mother in front of him as a shield, according to the new bodycam footage released.
‘Shoot me, shoot me’, he screams in the apartment’s living room as he continues to dare cops to do it, the video shows. When Morgese asks where the knife is and says to drop it, Dotel replies, ‘I got the knife’, footage shows.”
Besides a history of mental illness, Dotel had three open criminal cases against him at the time of the shooting.
NYPD’s assistant commissioner for public information, Carlos Nieves, said that an internal investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
This story originally appeared on TheGateWayPundit
