As social justice advocates demand to see the bodycam footage of the fatal police shooting of Christopher Ferguson after a wild chase in Brooklyn Thursday, police sources gave the Daily News an exclusive first look at the video of the murder suspect pointing a gun at officers before using lethal force.
The video shows Ferguson attempting to exit the front passenger seat of a wrecked Honda — after a two-mile chase through the streets of Brooklyn — as officers approach the vehicle with weapons drawn.
As seen in the video, Ferguson – unable to fully open the door, which was wedged against another vehicle – pointed his weapon from inside the car at the police, and the officers immediately opened fire.
The footage, which a police spokesperson said would be made available to Ferguson’s family before being released to the public, strengthens the NYPD’s position that the fatal shooting was justified as attorneys seek to charge the police of wrongfully killing Ferguson – and while a 3-year-old girl was sitting in the backseat of the car.
“What we saw was an execution by New York City police,” said Kevin McCall, founder of the Crisis Action Center. “Police say they found a weapon. Release the bodycam footage.”
McCall joined Ferguson’s mother, Yolanda Campbell, and attorney Sanford Rubenstein at the corner of Utica Ave. on Friday. and Park Place, where police fired as many as 19 shots after cornering the murder suspect, his girlfriend and her 3-year-old daughter. a car chase that stretched from Fort Greene to Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Ferguson’s 21-year-old girlfriend was behind the wheel of a black Honda that was seen fleeing the Whitman Houses after reports of gunfire there Thursday afternoon when she crashed into a black Mercedes that was double-parked at the intersection, according to the Police.
Police had ordered Ferguson and his girlfriend to exit the vehicle with their hands up as Ferguson took aim, NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey told reporters Thursday.
“That gun was definitely pointed at the officer,” Maddrey said.
Police tweeted a photo of a handgun with an illegal extended magazine recovered at the scene.
Ferguson’s girlfriend was also injured when police opened fire as she tried to flee the car on foot. Her 3-year-old daughter, who was in the backseat of the vehicle, escaped the incident unharmed.
Ferguson’s mother blasted the NYPD for using excessive force in killing her son and endangering the little girl.
‘I want to know why you would shoot 17 times? My son weighed 100 pounds – two shots would have killed him,” Campbell said. “And with a 3-year-old baby in the car?”
Rubenstein, a civil rights attorney who represented Eric Garner’s family, called on state Attorney General Letitia James to launch an investigation into the fatal police-involved shooting “to identify and determine any criminality issues … what’s going on here is going on so that police don’t “I can’t fire 17 shots again into a car with a three-year-old child,” Rubenstein said.
Patrick Hendry, the president of the Police Benevolent Association, praised the officers who opened fire on Ferguson.
“This individual, who was wanted for murder, pointed a gun at our police officers,” Hendry said. “They took action to protect themselves and everyone else he endangered.”
Ferguson was wanted for the March 28 murder of Merv Smith, a Brownsville, Brooklyn resident who was found at Belmont and Euclid Aves. fatally wounded by multiple gunshots.
