Elkins Park man fatally shot after nearly striking an NYPD lieutenant: Police
Police tried to pull the driver over, but Jumaane Wright allegedly refused and drove off.
EAST NEW YORK, Brooklyn -- The New York Attorney General's Office has opened an investigation into a deadly police-involved shooting that unfolded in Brooklyn Tuesday night, when the NYPD Community Response Team was searching for stolen cars.
Video in the media player above is from a previous report.
The 28-year-old suspect, Jumaane Wright of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, was fatally shot after nearly striking an NYPD lieutenant, who was part of a roadblock attempting to stop Wright speeding on the Belt Parkway.
Officers first spotted the Porsche, believed to be stolen in Pennsylvania, with license plates that did not match, near Cropsey Avenue in Canarsie just after 8 p.m.
Police tried to pull the driver over, but Wright allegedly refused and drove off eastbound on the Belt Parkway.
Following the new protocol on police pursuits, the officers did not pursue him.
"We didn't pursue the vehicle, we strategically radioed ahead to shut down traffic to see if we could intercept this car, which we now know was stolen," said NYPD Chief of Department John Chell.
That strategy is a result of the policy put in place earlier this year by the NYPD to limit police vehicle pursuits to only serious and violent crimes in an attempt to avoid crashes, property damage or injury and death.
Instead, they transmitted the vehicle description to fellow officers, allowing those in an adjoining precinct to set up a roadblock near Exit 13.
Wright swerved to avoid the roadblock and sped toward officers, either clipping or almost clipping a lieutenant, police say.
Investigators say the lieutenant fired a single shot, striking Wright, who kept driving for one more mile until ultimately crashing the Porsche into an NYPD vehicle.
The 28-year-old was taken to the hospital, where he later died. He was on federal probation for trafficking stolen cars from Pennsylvania to New York.
The investigation into the police-involved shooting by the New York Attorney General's Office is standard procedure.
