JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Two people are in critical condition today after a chaotic police shooting inside a New York City subway station Sunday. It began after officers pursued a man who did not pay his fare - and a warning that the details of this incident are graphic. WNYC's Bahar Ostadan joins us now from Brooklyn. Can you just start by telling us what happened yesterday?
BAHAR OSTADAN, BYLINE: It's really what you said. It was a chaotic, confusing scene. And frankly, at this point, we have more questions than answers. What we know now to be super-clear is just what police have told us. Police officers saw a man entering a subway station in Brooklyn without paying his fare. They say the officers followed him through the station up three flights of stairs onto a train platform, where they say he muttered, threatening to kill the officers if they didn't stop following him.
Then they asked him to take his hands out from his pockets. According to police, he said, no, you'll have to shoot me first. Two officers then tried to use tasers on the man. That didn't work, though we don't know why. He then pulled out a knife, according to police, and they shot him several times. Now that man, Derell Mickles, is in critical condition.
SUMMERS: OK. And you said that at least two people were injured. What can you tell us about that?
OSTADAN: That's right. So in, you know, a few hours after the shooting, police officials got on stage at a news conference and said that police had not only shot Mickles but also shot two bystanders, a 49-year-old man in the head - that man is in critical condition - and grazed a 26-year-old woman. She's luckily in stable condition. They also shot a fellow police officer. Luckily, he's also in stable condition.
We actually got video of the aftermath of the shooting. It's been sort of floating around on social media. In the video, you can see at least two men lying inside two separate train cars. So we're asking questions. You know, why did enforcing fare evasion result in four people getting shot, including a police officer? How exactly did this play out, and why were two people shot in two separate train cars?
SUMMERS: Right. And what can you tell us, if anything, about the people who were shot?
OSTADAN: So, like I said, the officer is doing well and the woman who was grazed by a police bullet is doing well. Mickles and the bystander, who police shot in the head, are both in critical condition. One of our reporters visited Mickles' mom this morning in Brooklyn. Police actually hadn't called to tell her yet the news that her son was shot by police. She'd just gotten home from her night shift as a security guard to find an NYPD business card at her door. Her name is Gloria Holloway. Here's what she said.
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GLORIA HOLLOWAY: They shot him at the train station. So they just shot him and didn't bother to get in touch with nobody who's related to him and leave a card here at the damn door?
SUMMERS: Wow. I mean, I just have to say that this does seem like quite an outsized outcome for a person who didn't pay a $2.90 subway fare.
OSTADAN: You know, policing the subways and policing fare evasion has been a huge focus for New York City mayor Eric Adams and the police department. They've spent over 150 million more dollars on officer overtime. They've flooded the transit system with over a thousand more cops every day. Police are issuing tens of thousands more criminal summons than they used to for people who don't pay their subway fare under our mayor and are making more arrests.
Actually, earlier this year, I analyzed data from every single subway station in New York City and found that at one station in Brooklyn - actually, the station right next to where this shooting took place - you're 40 times more likely to get arrested for not paying your ticket than the average station.
SUMMERS: WNYC's Bahar Ostadan. Thank you.
OSTADAN: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF KENDRICK LAMAR SONG, "SING ABOUT ME, I'M DYING OF THIRST") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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