Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Executives Provide Details on Vehicle Collision in Brooklyn

June 25, 2022

Assistant Chief Judith Harrison, Police Department: Good evening, everyone. I am Assistant Chief Judith Harrison. I'm the commanding officer of the Patrol Borough of Brooklyn North. I'm joined with the honorable mayor of New York City, Eric Adams. I'm also joined with Inspector Glynn, Commanding Officer of the 81 Precinct. I'm joined by Inspector [inaudible], who is a commanding officer of the highway division, and I'm joined by Captain Bentley from the [inaudible] investigation.

Harrison: The details that I'm about to provide to you are preliminary as this incident is just about three hours old, so the details that we are going to give you are subject to change. Tonight, at approximately 7:10 PM, a sergeant and two police officers assigned to the 81 Precinct observed a vehicle with mismatch plates. They also observed the two occupants inside the vehicle who appeared to be smoking marijuana inside.

Harrison: The officers activated their turret lights and attempted to stop the vehicle. The vehicle stopped at Ralph Avenue and Chauncey Street. And as our police officers exited their vehicle and walked up to that vehicle on foot, that vehicle fled at an extremely high rate of speed. The vehicle fled northbound on Ralph Avenue and struck a bicyclist and two pedestrians at the corner of Ralph Avenue and Macon Street. That vehicle continued northbound on Ralph Avenue, and at the corner of Halsey Street struck another pedestrian and struck a vehicle.

Harrison: We have one person deceased at the scene, we have another person who is in critical condition, and we have three people that are being treated at area hospitals and expected to make a full recovery. I'd just like to offer my condolences to the family of the deceased, and I like to wish a speedy recovery to all the people that were injured in this incident. We ask anyone, if you have any information regarding this horrific incident, please call crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. That's 1-800-577-TIPS. Now I'd like to turn it over to the honorable Mayor Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you, chief. The chief laid out to you what happened today. Let me lay out to you what led up to today. We have a 100% increase in GLAs in this precinct. And if inspector who's doing his job is frustrated because those who steal cars, it’s not a bailable offense. Those who flee from the police after stealing cars is not a bailable offense. There’s cases where someone is arrested 18 times for GLA and they're back on the streets. When are we going to connect the dots?

Mayor Adams: The crime problem is being fed by the wrong message that we're sending in this city. We've sent it over and over again. We have a elderly grandmother that was struck and killed. We have a baby, a child that was struck and killed. The video that I observed is chilling for anyone that lives in this community. And you know why? Because this is my community. I live blocks from here. I patronize these stores. These are my neighbors. No one deserved to walk across the street with their grandchild and to be struck, a crash that took the life of a grandparent.

Mayor Adams: We're feeding this crime problem in this city, we're feeding it over and over again. A small number of bad people think they can do bad things and get out of jail because we have a bad criminal justice system. This could happen in any community, the same people committing the crimes over and over again without any repercussions at all. We are inviting innocent people to die in this city. The actions that they did up until hitting innocent people is not a bailable offense no matter how many times they do it.

Mayor Adams: What more could the inspector and the chief do in this city? That this happens over and over again. And we will catch the people responsible. And without even know who they are, I guarantee you they have a long criminal record. I guarantee you they have a history. That's the only thing we are sure of. Each time we catch people who carry out these dangerous actions on innocent people, we find they have one thing in common. They've gone through the criminal justice system and they are able to return to our streets and carry out the crimes over and over again. It is as though other parts of this system are living in a different reality than what those of us are living in in our communities.

Mayor Adams: This is a stable, safe community if you rid it from those who are committed, these repeated crimes in our city. It's no different than Bed-Stuy and Harlem, South Jamaica Queens, the Bronx. No matter where you go, we're seeing the same pattern. And so we're asking New Yorkers, when we release image of who's responsible, we're asking New Yorkers to help us catch the individuals who are responsible. But we're also asking our judges, let's use your discretion where it's able to use it to keep them inside. We're asking our lawmakers to do a real analysis of the repeated crimes that the same people are taking. And we're asking our prosecutors to prosecute.

Mayor Adams: New Yorkers don't deserve this. We lost a grandmother tonight. We lost one of my neighbors. We lost a family member in my community. We have a child that's hanging on for his life. He could be my son, he could be the son of any of these people who are standing here right now. Any one of them could have crossed the street to patronize a store or visit a loved one or family member. Anyone could have experienced that. Open to any questions.

Question: Is there anyone in custody? I was told somebody might be in custody, but you don't know if they're the driver.

Harrison: We do have one person in custody. That person is back at the 81 Precinct Detective Squad. He's being thoroughly interviewed. We're also combing through video trying to tie him to the incident. No one has been charged yet, but we have one in custody. We have one that's outstanding.

Question: Was there a passenger in the car?

Harrison: We're not sure

Question: After the vehicle crashed, did they run?

Harrison: Can you speak up, please, ma'am?

Question: After the vehicle crashed, did they flee?

Harrison: Yes. After the vehicle fled... Excuse me. After the vehicle crashed on Halsey Street, two passengers from that vehicle did flee.

Question: [Inaudible].

Harrison: Excuse me, ma'am?

Question: Was one of the victims a child?

Harrison: One of the victims is an eight year old child. That eight year old child is at Maimonides Hospital. He's fighting for his life right now. He really could use your prayers.

Question: [Inaudible].

Harrison: The grandmother's deceased.

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