As social justice advocates demand to see the body-cam footage of the fatal police shooting of Christopher Ferguson after a wild car chase in Brooklyn Thursday, police sources gave the Daily News an exclusive first look at video that shows the murder suspect pointing a firearm at officers prior to their use of deadly force.
The video shows Ferguson attempting to exit the front passenger seat of a wrecked Honda — following a more than 2-mile chase through the streets of Brooklyn — as officers approach the vehicle with their weapons drawn.
As seen in the video, Ferguson — unable to fully open the door, which had become wedged against another vehicle — aims his weapon at police from inside the car, at which point the officers immediately open fire.
The footage, which a police spokesman said would be made available to Ferguson’s family before its planned release to the public, strengthens the NYPD’s position that the fatal shooting was justified as advocates seek to accuse the police of wrongfully killing Ferguson — and while a 3-year-old girl was in the backseat of the car.
“What we’ve seen was an execution by the New York City Police Department,” said Kevin McCall, founder of the Crisis Action Center. “The police are saying they found a gun. Well, release the body-cam footage.”
McCall joined Ferguson’s mother, Yolanda Campbell, and attorney Sanford Rubenstein on Friday at the corner of Utica Ave. and Park Place, where police fired as many as 19 shots after cornering the murder suspect, his girlfriend and her 3-year-old daughter after a car pursuit that stretched from Fort Greene to Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Ferguson’s 21-year-old girlfriend was behind the wheel of a black Honda spotted fleeing the Whitman Houses after reports of gunfire there Thursday afternoon, when she crashed into a black Mercedes double-parked at the intersection, cops said.
Police had ordered Ferguson and his girlfriend to exit the vehicle with their hands up when Ferguson took aim, NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey told reporters on Thursday.
“That gun was definitely pointed at the officer,” Maddrey said.
Police tweeted a photo of a pistol with an illegal extended magazine that was recovered from the scene.
Ferguson’s girlfriend was also wounded when police opened fire as she attempted to flee the car on foot. Her 3-year-old daughter, who was in the backseat of the vehicle, escaped the incident unscathed.
Ferguson’s mother slammed 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 then 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 conduct an investigation into the fatal police-involved shooting “to determine any issue of criminality and to determine … what went on here, so the cops don’t fire 17 shots again in a car with a 3-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 put at risk.”
Ferguson was wanted for the March 28 murder of Merv Smith, a Brownsville, Brooklyn resident who was found at Belmont and Euclid Aves. mortally wounded by multiple gunshots.
