BK Man Shot At By Cops Was Hurt Before Officers Arrived: NYPD

BROOKLYN, NY — A man police said was shot in the leg by an officer in December was actually hit before his encounter with the cops, investigators said this week.

Body camera video released Tuesday reveals new details about the Dec. 28 night police shot at Curtis McGarrell while they were arresting another person on Lenox Road.

Police — who originally believed McGarrell was hit when an officer fired twice in his direction —said Tuesday he actually had been shot before they arrived. It turns out McGarrell had been on the phone with a 911 operator reporting that he'd been shot when police spotted him, according to the video.

The chaotic series of events began when two people called 911 about McGarrell walking on Lenox Street with a gun in his hand, including one who said McGarrell pointed the gun at him on a street corner.

“He’s walking up and down the block,” a second caller said. “...That s*** was right in his hand."

Four officers were sent to the block with a description of McGarrell, according to the video.

The investigation later revealed the McGarrell had pointed the gun at at least three people before they arrived: the man on the street corner who had called 911, a customer in a bodega and finally at a 60-year-old on the street, according to the video.

The 60-year-old got in a physical fight with McGarrell and managed to wrestle the gun away from him, police said. He was the man cops were arresting when McGarrell started walking up to them on Lenox Road.

Police did not specify if McGarrell's gunshot wound was from the altercation with the 60-year-old man, but did say that the fight left him with lacerations from being hit with the gun.

McGarrell was arrested on attempted assault, menacing and several weapons charges, according to police.

(Warning: Video contains graphic content).

The Dec. 28 encounter was among a string of police-involved shootings around the New Year.

The NYPD released body-camera videos from two of the other incidents last week, including when they shot at a man on Christmas Eve who had opened fire on a group of officers in Crown Heights and a Jan. 4 incident when they shot but did not hit a knife-wielding man in an East Flatbush apartment.

Police also shot at a man in late December who was roaming the streets in Brownsville with a machete.

The NYPD are required to release body camera footage within 30 days if an officer fires a gun under new rules put in place last year.