Off-Duty Cop Kills Man in Front of His Family in Brooklyn Road-Rage Episode

Brooklyn, NY — An off-duty New York City police officer shot and killed a man in front of his girlfriend and three children in what police are describing as a road-rage incident in a Brooklyn intersection early Sunday.

The officer's car and the dead man's car nearly struck each other at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Bradford Street just after midnight.

Subscribe to Patch News Alerts and Newsletters

From there, reports The New York Daily News, the stories differ.

Police said Delron Dempsey, 37, left his SUV — with his girlfriend, two teen daughters and a newborn son inside — and began punching the officer in the face and head as the cop sat in his Kia. The officer then shot him three times, including once in the chest.

A friend of Dempsey's told The News he saw something different unfold on the Cypress Hills street.

“Delron and the cop's car almost hit each other. And Delron got out of the car and the cop just jumped out and started screaming,” 43-year-old Lloyd Banks told The News. “He just shot him right there on the street. Delron was unarmed. His wife and kids were still in the car. They saw everything.”

The officer, on the force for three years, works in Bedford-Stuyvesant's 79th Precinct.

NBC New York reports that Dempsey lives in Jersey City and was visiting with his girlfriend and their children. His brother told NBC that Dempsey got out of the car because he didn't want to argue with the other driver in front of the children. Dempsey was a cab driver, reports the N.Y. Post, quoting his mom who lives on Long Island.

Police have not released details of what transpired between the two drivers before the confrontation.

More via The N.Y. Daily News and NBC New York