New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is calling for more mental health care instead of criminal charges for a schizophrenic man accused of lunging at police with a large kitchen knife.
After attempting to de-escalate the situation, the officer eventually shot him.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) released body camera footage of the January 26 incident, which happened in Queens, Fox News reported Thursday.
The young man who was shot was identified as 22-year-old Jabez Chakraborty, who police said was holding the knife and charged officers when they responded to an emergency call from his family.
The clip shows officers entering the family’s home when a woman let them inside regarding the young man having a mental health episode. Chakraborty appeared to be in the kitchen when the officers entered, and he allegedly picked up the knife and came toward them as a family member yelled, “No!”
The officer repeatedly told the man to put the knife down and was briefly able to shut a door between him and Chakraborty. However, the clip appeared to show the young man pushing open the door and the officer shooting him four times:
Chakraborty was hospitalized in stable but critical condition.
Following the incident, Mamdani wrote in a social media post:
Jabez has lived with schizophrenia for many years. I have proposed a Department of Community Safety to build a mental health system rooted in prevention, sustained care, and crisis response – and one in which officers are not burdened with responding to such crises alone.
“With regard to this case, an NYPD investigation is underway, and my administration will release body-worn camera footage from first-responding officers tomorrow. Jabez needs mental health care, not criminal prosecution by a District Attorney,” he added.
It is important to note that Mamdani has previously called for “dismantling” the NYPD and expressed a desire to “defund the police,” according to Breitbart News.
Chakraborty’s family later claimed in a statement they called 911 for an ambulance and said, “We did not call the police. Instead of medical responders, the NYPD arrived and shot our son multiple times in front of us,” according to ABC 7.
However, police told Fox, “The family had requested an involuntary removal of their son, a request that requires both police and EMS to respond.”
Meanwhile, Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry told Fox the video shows the officers entered an unpredictable, dangerous situation.
“There was no time or space for them to de-escalate the situation before they were forced to act. They did their job professionally and with restraint under terrible circumstances,” Hendry stated.
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