I’ll chime in later now that school starts in a few.
I take the Bx28/38 but only once or twice for the week.
I’ve nvr seen any type of fare enforcement
If I see something, I’ll say something
Carry 0n……
NY Legal: MTA is using AI to track fare evasion on the subway UPDATE: Fare Enforcement Teams mobilized
- Thread starter playahaitian
- Start date
I’ll chime in later now that school starts in a few.
I take the Bx28/38 but only once or twice for the week.
I’ve nvr seen any type of fare enforcement
If I see something, I’ll say something
Carry 0n……
Put a person in jail with killers for 3 days for hopping a bus but let gangs exist for 30 yrs even though you have over 60,000 law enforcement. That sounds pretty smart and having great priorities
Fare Evasion (Follow-Up)
To determine the extent of implementation of the 19 recommendations included in our initial audit report, Fare Evasion (2019-S-7).
Gothamist: The NYPD issued more than 100K fare evasion tickets last…
Jacqueline Gosdigian, senior policy counsel with Brooklyn Defender Services, said that paying officers overtime rates to enforce fare evasion and then prosecuting cases in the court system is a waste of the city’s time and money. “Think of how much cheaper it would be to give someone a free…
Chaos breaks out at subway station after 4 shot when NYPD opens fire in Brooklyn
The bullets that flew inside the car and onto the platform struck the suspect and two passengers - a 26-year-old woman and a 49-year-old man - as well as a 40-year-old officer.
@tallblacknyc
I hate that I predicted this
Lawsuit out the ass.. was the 2.90 worth it nope.. bunch of people got shot by so called trained professionalChaos breaks out at subway station after 4 shot when NYPD opens fire in Brooklyn
The bullets that flew inside the car and onto the platform struck the suspect and two passengers - a 26-year-old woman and a 49-year-old man - as well as a 40-year-old officer.abc7ny.com
@tallblacknyc
I hate that I predicted this
^^^^^
But I warned you this was coming. I seen it. I tell the kids just swipe I dont care what your friends do.
Not the publicity nypd and the Mta wanted right now… when trying to protect the billionaire monopoly mafia goes wrong
I need my negrodamus award on this one
Lol! This sucker motherfucker shit won't work. At this point you have to crack heads. I see at the SI Ferry they have ex cons guarding the gate and waiting to get physical with nigga minded individuals if need be.
^^^^
I tried to warn folks months ago this was coming. These rent a cops are just going to incite violence But as always who gonna suffer in the end? Black and brown.
Especially kids.
So when the cops were shooting everybody in bk imagine when everybody was running for their lives and trying to escape it took 15 secs to get out..think of all the people that would’ve got trampled trying to push the gate but it not opening… so basically this a lawsuit waiting to happen.. a fire a flood people trying to get out but the gate won’t move
Nightmare material but I saw it coming
I just tell all the kids just pay the sh*t and if you SELL that card? Don't get caught and don't tell anyone.
They gave them kids bartering tools and the key to the city at the same damn time… they tried to limit my childhood and gave this generation all the freedom in the world.. I couldn’t imagine if we had 24/7/365 day passes..omg the shit we could’ve done, even more access to buns
Exclusive | NYU Langone ignored in plea to Hochul to exempt congestion pricing for vulnerable patients, staff
Leaders at NYU Langone Health urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to craft congestion pricing exemptions for burdened patients and staff — a searing plea that went unheeded days later when she announced …
nypost.com
NYC Subways to Get Cops on All Overnight Trains for Six Months
New York City’s subway system is about to see more police on its platforms and train cars as Governor Kathy Hochul ramps up security following recent violent attacks that have shaken riders.
www.bloomberg.com
MTA is hiring for dozens of jobs with NYC Transit Authority
NEW YORK (PIX11) – If 2025 is the year you make a career change, the MTA is looking to fill dozens of jobs with the New York City Transit Authority. The MTA is looking for a staff analyst. The role…
pix11.com
MTA tries shields to stop subway fare evaders weeks after adding turnstile spikes
The MTA is trying something new to deter fare evaders just weeks after installing spikes on some subway turnstiles.
www.cbsnews.com
@tallblacknyc
@dik cashmere
* a good breakdown of this mess.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/...cle_code=1.1E4.-BvR.K1Pj9g6JdKWh#site-content
Bodycam Footage Shows Police Shooting in N.Y.C. Subway
1:31
The New York Police Department released edited body camera footage that shows the moments before and after officers shot a man who they said was wielding a knife at a subway station in Brooklyn.CreditCredit...New York Police Department
By Ed Shanahan
March 3, 2025
A man coming home from an overseas trip. Another on his way to work. A woman off to a celebratory dinner.
They were three New Yorkers riding the subway on a Sunday afternoon in September, not knowing they would soon end up in a hail of police bullets meant for Derell Mickles.
Mr. Mickles, 38, had slipped into the Sutter Avenue L station in Brooklyn without paying. Two police officers had followed him to the elevated platform, catching a glimpse of a knife in his hand. Within minutes, the police would shoot two of the passengers, Mr. Mickles and one of the officers.
The harrowing episode was a stark example of how even seemingly normal commutes can erupt in a flash of violence in a transit system officials have struggled to safeguard for the millions of New Yorkers who rely on it every day.
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Subway crime dipped overall last year, but felony assaults were up 55 percent since 2019. There have also been alarming random acts of violence, like the immolation of a woman at a Brooklyn station and the shoving of a man into the path of a train in Manhattan.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams have responded by flooding stations with law enforcement: 3,250 police officers; 1,250 National Guard soldiers and state troopers; and another 300 officers on overnight trains for the next few months.
Image
Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul have flooded the subway stations with officers and soldiers as part of an effort to reduce subway crime.Credit...Adam Gray/Getty Images
The surge has focused partly on fare evasion, which cost the transit system as much as $800 million last year and which officials like the mayor have framed as a tripwire for more serious crimes. Police officials said officers seized two dozen guns and about 500 knives during fare evasion stops in just the first nine months of 2024.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
But critics say that the fare evasion crackdown is misguided and too costly for what it recoups in revenue. And when it leads to a police encounter that escalates, as it did that Sunday, Sept. 15, the effort can quickly turn dangerous for the New Yorkers it is supposed to protect.
Surveillance camera footage from the Sutter Avenue subway station showed Derell Mickles hopping over a turnstile as two officers stood nearby. They followed him.
Even on a weekday, the Sutter Avenue L train stop is among the least busy of the city’s 472 subway stations. On this day, only a few riders trickled in.
When Mr. Mickles entered the station, Officers Edmund Mays and Alex Wong were near the turnstiles as part of the broader effort to reduce crime in the subway. Officer Mays had been with the Police Department for 10 years; Officer Wong for six. Neither had faced significant accusations of misconduct on the job.
Mr. Mickles hopped a turnstile, backtracked when the officers confronted him and quickly left, surveillance video shows. But less than 10 minutes later, he returned and slid through an open emergency gate.
The police officers followed him upstairs to the platform, hurrying past other riders, according to footage from their body-worn cameras.
“Careful,” Officer Mays said to his partner about halfway up. “He has a knife in his hand.”
Image
The police did not seem to be aware that Mickles had a knife until the second time he entered the subway station.
A Manhattan-bound L train was about a minute away. David LaFauci, a systems administrator on his way home from a trip to Italy, was on it. So was Kerry Ann Jahalal. She had turned 26 the day before, and she was going to Manhattan with her husband for dinner to mark the occasion. Gregory Delpeche was there, too, riding to his job at Woodhull Medical Center.
On the platform, Mr. Mickles began walking toward the far end as the officers tailed him. “I’m going to make you kill me” if you mess with me, he muttered loudly enough for them to hear.
He stopped, walked toward the platform edge with his hands behind his back, and turned to face the officers.
A voice sounded over the station’s speaker system: “The next Manhattan-bound L train is now arriving.”
It was 3:06 p.m.
The officers yelled at Mr. Mickles to show them his hands as a Manhattan-bound L train pulled into the subway station at 3:06 p.m.
What happened next, captured by officers’ body-worn cameras and described by a witness in interviews, lasted barely more than a minute.
3:06:10
“Sir, I need to see your hands,” Officer Mays says.
Mr. Mickles shakes his head.
“Drop the knife,” Officer Wong says, the first of more than 30 such commands.
“I’m not dropping nothing,” Mr. Mickles says. “Shoot me.”
“I’m not shooting you, sir,” Officer Mays says.
3:06:22
The Manhattan-bound train pulls in.
“Leave me alone,” Mr. Mickles says over and over, extending his left arm imploringly.
The officers tell him to put the knife down.
3:06:30
Mr. Mickles yells that the knife is down, but it’s unclear whether that is true as he moves toward the officers. “Shoot me!” he says.
As the train comes to a stop behind him, he steps backward. When the doors open, he backs into a car.
“Don’t touch me,” he says. “What is wrong with you all?”
Officer Wong looks toward the front of the train and yells for the conductor to hold it in the station.
Mr. Mickles walks toward the far end of the car as Officer Mays shadows him from the platform. Soon, both officers are inside the car — as is Mr. LaFauci.
Both officers fired their Tasers at Mr. Mickles, though it’s unclear whether the shots affected him.
As Mr. Mickles and the officers on the L train yell at one another, Mr. LaFauci’s immediate reaction is not fear but annoyance. He just wants to go home.
In his mind, he says later, the situation will soon be resolved, and the train will start moving again.
He is wrong.
3:06:50
Mr. Mickles, his right hand still behind him, curses as Officer Mays approaches.
In the seat closest to them is a man in a red shirt: Mr. Delpeche, on his way to work.
Get away, Officer Mays tells Mr. Delpeche as he waves his arm. Mr. Delpeche, 50, walks toward the far end of the car and, eventually, onto the platform.
By now both officers are facing Mr. Mickles.
“Put down the knife.”
“Shoot me.”
“Put down the knife.”
“Shoot me.”
The officers take out their Tasers. Mr. LaFauci, 34, looks at an older man with a mustache and a tweed coat sitting across from him. They make eye contact, and the older man rises to get off the train. Mr. LaFauci stays put.
3:06:58
One of the officers fires his Taser at Mr. Mickles outside the frame of the body-camera footage.
Mr. Mickles has been hit, but it’s unclear whether the prongs have penetrated his shirt or skin. He walks toward the officers. This time, both fire.
“Taser! Taser! Taser!” Officer Mays shouts.
Mr. LaFauci later says he thought it was an odd thing to yell after firing. The thin copper Taser wires hang in the air in front of him. Still, he is not afraid.
Mr. Mickles, swatting the Taser prongs away, steps onto the platform and runs back toward the stairway. Officer Mays tries to head him off, his partner behind him.
Mr. Delpeche, the man in the red shirt, is standing on the narrow platform next to a few other passengers. Mr. LaFauci is still on the train.
3:07:12
Mr. Mickles races at Officer Mays, who curses and backs up as his partner runs toward them.
3:07:15
Suddenly, Mr. Mickles stops near the open door of a car next to the one he was just in. He is facing Officer Wong several feet away. Officer Mays is farther down the platform. There are at least three people inside the car. One is Ms. Jahalal, on her way to her birthday dinner.
The officers have switched from Tasers to guns. They begin shooting.
3:07:18
Officer Wong fires six shots. Officer Mays fires three. Passengers scream and rush for safety. Mr. Mickles, clutching the knife, takes a couple of steps and crumples to the train floor.
“Put it down!” the officers yell. “Put it down! Put it down!”
3:07:21
“I’m shot!” Officer Mays shouts as he stands across the platform from Mr. Mickles.
In front of him, Mr. Mickles sits upright.
Both officers, guns drawn, continue to shout at him to put the knife down.
3:07:28
Officer Mays is yelling into his radio.
One of the bullets has hit him under the arm, and at least one is in Mr. Mickles’s abdomen. Another lodged in Ms. Jahalal’s left leg as she ran from the gunfire. Mr. Delpeche, who had moved as the police instructed, has been shot in the head.
It has been less than three minutes since Mr. Mickles slipped through the station gate.
Mr. Mickles crumpled into a train car after the officers shot him. They fired a total of nine shots, and he was hit in the abdomen.
A subway ride costs $2.90. But the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the system, estimates that at least 10 percent of riders do not pay.
The mayor and other officials, in a nod to the “broken windows” model of policing, argue that being tough on fare evasion has helped reduce crime in the subway. But it is difficult, if not impossible, to prove how many crimes are avoided.
“Criminals don’t pay to ride, and stopping them at the gate makes us all safer,” Demetrius Crichlow, the head of New York City Transit, the authority division that runs the subway and buses, said in November after a fare evader was found with a loaded gun.
But the crackdown appears to mostly affect people of color, like Mr. Mickles: Of the roughly 2,800 people arrested on charges of fare evasion in last year’s third quarter, just 5 percent were white, according to Police Department data. Of the roughly 36,000 issued summonses for the offense, 16 percent were white.
“Cracking down on fare evasion has, to a large extent, amounted to cracking down in the highest-poverty station areas, which also tend to be in predominantly Black or Hispanic neighborhoods,” said Harold Stolper, a Columbia University economist.
The Sutter Avenue L station, which serves the mostly Black and Hispanic Brownsville neighborhood, had the second-highest rate of fare-evasion enforcement per ridership last year, according to Mr. Stolper’s research.
The mayor and police leaders insist that the Sutter Avenue shooting was not about fare enforcement but about a person who “had a clear mission to carry out a violent act,” as the mayor said at a news conference.
Mr. Mickles had a history of substance abuse and a criminal record that included convictions for burglary and selling drugs. Since 2014, he has spent a total of a little more than a year in city jails spread across four short stints. There is no indication the officers knew any of that when they chose to follow him.
Some people, like Mr. Adams, saw in his history and demeanor that day — and his quick brandishing of a blade — a man who was out looking for trouble. Others, like Mr. LaFauci, have wondered whether he would have just gone on his way had he not been approached by the police.
David LaFauci was on the subway on his way home from a trip when he got caught up in a confrontation between the police and a man the officers said had a knife.Credit...Juan Arredondo for The New York Times
After the police officers stopped firing at Mr. Mickles, Mr. LaFauci looked over and saw Mr. Delpeche on the floor of the subway car, his legs extended out onto the platform as if he had fallen backward. He took a few steps toward him and saw a halo of blood pooled around his head. Mr. LaFauci grabbed his backpack and finally got off the train.
He saw people carrying someone who appeared to be unconscious down the platform.
He felt his antipathy toward the officers rising.
“I’m not the most pro-police guy,” he acknowledged in an interview later.
In May 2020, Mr. LaFauci protested in Brooklyn after the police in Minnesota killed George Floyd. He later claimed in a lawsuit against the city that the officers had broken his hand with a baton before arresting him. The Brooklyn district attorney declined to prosecute, and the city settled with him for $115,000 without admitting wrongdoing.
This time, he had not been injured physically, but he was disoriented. Had it been 20 minutes since the gunshots rang out? More? He went down to the street, and an officer told him the block was being cleared, so he began the hour-plus walk home, even though friends he texted suggested he call an Uber. He flipped off police cruisers as they raced past him. Several times, he said, he broke down in tears.
But the mayor, a former police captain, also praised the officers for their “great level of restraint,” and he joined police leaders in saying that the shooting had been warranted because Mr. Mickles presented a risk to the officers and others. The police investigation is continuing.
As a result of his injuries from the shooting, Mr. Mickles had surgery to remove a large section of his small bowel and part of his stomach, as well as to repair 15 bullet holes in his arms, legs and abdominal wall, according to a city doctor’s report. He was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, attempted assault, menacing a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon and theft of services. He has pleaded not guilty.
Officer Mays, who was struck near his armpit, returned to duty almost immediately.
Mr. Delpeche, who needed emergency brain surgery, has made significant strides in his recovery, but “as far as being normal, it’s a long road ahead,” said Leighton Lee, a friend. A guardian has been appointed for him because of his injuries, and a lawyer hired by relatives has filed court papers indicating plans to sue the city for $80 million.
“The fact that he’s alive is amazing,” said Nicholas Liakas, the lawyer.
As for Ms. Jahalal, the bullet in her leg will be there forever, according to a notice of claim she and her husband, Daniel Jahalal, filed saying that they plan to sue the city for $70 million.
The police had said Ms. Jahalal was “grazed” by a bullet. According to her notice of claim, her injury prevents her from walking normally and has kept her from working. She appeared in a production of “Romeo and Juliet” while attending a small Brooklyn high school and studied as an English major at Lehman College for several years.
Mr. LaFauci, too, has signaled his intention to sue the city. In his case, the claim is for emotional distress: He says he is now scared to ride the subway, although like any New Yorker, he does when he has to.
Reporting was contributed by Ana Ley, Hurubie Meko and Wesley Parnell. Sheelagh McNeill and Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
Ed Shanahan is a rewrite reporter and editor covering breaking news and general assignments on the Metro desk. More about Ed Shanahan
A version of this article appears in print on March 9, 2025, Section MB, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Chaotic Day That Fed Subway Fears. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
See more on: N.Y. Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York City Transit
@dik cashmere
* a good breakdown of this mess.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/...cle_code=1.1E4.-BvR.K1Pj9g6JdKWh#site-content
One Hopped Turnstile, 9 Police Bullets, 4 People Shot. Does It Add Up?
New York’s subway has been flooded with patrols to prevent crime and stop fare evasion. One Sunday in Brooklyn, it all went wrong.Bodycam Footage Shows Police Shooting in N.Y.C. Subway
The New York Police Department released edited body camera footage that shows the moments before and after officers shot a man who they said was wielding a knife at a subway station in Brooklyn.
Officer: “Put it down.” Officer: “Put it down.” “Stop shooting!” Officer: “Put the knife down. Put the knife down.” Officer: “Put it down. Put it down.” Officer: “All right. Show me your hands.” Officer: “Put the knife down.” “Leave me [profanity] alone.” Officer: “Put the knife down.” “Leave me alone.” “Put the knife down. Put the knife down. Put the knife down. Put that down. Put it down.” “Stop shooting.” Officer: “Put it down.” Officer: “Put the knife down.” Officer: “Put it down.” “Don’t touch me.” Officer: “Put it down. Put it down. Put it down. Put it down. Put the knife down. Put the knife down.” Officer: “Taser! Taser! Taser!” [inaudible] Officer: “Taser! Taser! Taser!” [gunshots] Officer: “Put it down!” Officer: “Put it down!” “I’m shot. I’m shot.” Officer: “Put it down!” Officer: “Put it down!” [inaudible] Officer: “Put it down!” Officer: “Shots fired. Shots fired.” Officer: “Put it down!” Officer: “Put it down! Put it down!”Bodycam Footage Shows Police Shooting in N.Y.C. Subway
1:31
The New York Police Department released edited body camera footage that shows the moments before and after officers shot a man who they said was wielding a knife at a subway station in Brooklyn.CreditCredit...New York Police Department
By Ed Shanahan
March 3, 2025
A man coming home from an overseas trip. Another on his way to work. A woman off to a celebratory dinner.
They were three New Yorkers riding the subway on a Sunday afternoon in September, not knowing they would soon end up in a hail of police bullets meant for Derell Mickles.
Mr. Mickles, 38, had slipped into the Sutter Avenue L station in Brooklyn without paying. Two police officers had followed him to the elevated platform, catching a glimpse of a knife in his hand. Within minutes, the police would shoot two of the passengers, Mr. Mickles and one of the officers.
The harrowing episode was a stark example of how even seemingly normal commutes can erupt in a flash of violence in a transit system officials have struggled to safeguard for the millions of New Yorkers who rely on it every day.
Advertisement
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Subway crime dipped overall last year, but felony assaults were up 55 percent since 2019. There have also been alarming random acts of violence, like the immolation of a woman at a Brooklyn station and the shoving of a man into the path of a train in Manhattan.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams have responded by flooding stations with law enforcement: 3,250 police officers; 1,250 National Guard soldiers and state troopers; and another 300 officers on overnight trains for the next few months.
Image
Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul have flooded the subway stations with officers and soldiers as part of an effort to reduce subway crime.Credit...Adam Gray/Getty Images
The surge has focused partly on fare evasion, which cost the transit system as much as $800 million last year and which officials like the mayor have framed as a tripwire for more serious crimes. Police officials said officers seized two dozen guns and about 500 knives during fare evasion stops in just the first nine months of 2024.
Advertisement
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
But critics say that the fare evasion crackdown is misguided and too costly for what it recoups in revenue. And when it leads to a police encounter that escalates, as it did that Sunday, Sept. 15, the effort can quickly turn dangerous for the New Yorkers it is supposed to protect.
‘Now Arriving’
Image
Surveillance camera footage from the Sutter Avenue subway station showed Derell Mickles hopping over a turnstile as two officers stood nearby. They followed him.
Even on a weekday, the Sutter Avenue L train stop is among the least busy of the city’s 472 subway stations. On this day, only a few riders trickled in.
When Mr. Mickles entered the station, Officers Edmund Mays and Alex Wong were near the turnstiles as part of the broader effort to reduce crime in the subway. Officer Mays had been with the Police Department for 10 years; Officer Wong for six. Neither had faced significant accusations of misconduct on the job.
Mr. Mickles hopped a turnstile, backtracked when the officers confronted him and quickly left, surveillance video shows. But less than 10 minutes later, he returned and slid through an open emergency gate.
The police officers followed him upstairs to the platform, hurrying past other riders, according to footage from their body-worn cameras.
“Careful,” Officer Mays said to his partner about halfway up. “He has a knife in his hand.”
Image
The police did not seem to be aware that Mickles had a knife until the second time he entered the subway station.
A Manhattan-bound L train was about a minute away. David LaFauci, a systems administrator on his way home from a trip to Italy, was on it. So was Kerry Ann Jahalal. She had turned 26 the day before, and she was going to Manhattan with her husband for dinner to mark the occasion. Gregory Delpeche was there, too, riding to his job at Woodhull Medical Center.
On the platform, Mr. Mickles began walking toward the far end as the officers tailed him. “I’m going to make you kill me” if you mess with me, he muttered loudly enough for them to hear.
He stopped, walked toward the platform edge with his hands behind his back, and turned to face the officers.
A voice sounded over the station’s speaker system: “The next Manhattan-bound L train is now arriving.”
It was 3:06 p.m.
‘Don’t Touch Me’
Image
The officers yelled at Mr. Mickles to show them his hands as a Manhattan-bound L train pulled into the subway station at 3:06 p.m.
What happened next, captured by officers’ body-worn cameras and described by a witness in interviews, lasted barely more than a minute.
3:06:10
“Sir, I need to see your hands,” Officer Mays says.
Mr. Mickles shakes his head.
“Drop the knife,” Officer Wong says, the first of more than 30 such commands.
“I’m not dropping nothing,” Mr. Mickles says. “Shoot me.”
“I’m not shooting you, sir,” Officer Mays says.
3:06:22
The Manhattan-bound train pulls in.
“Leave me alone,” Mr. Mickles says over and over, extending his left arm imploringly.
The officers tell him to put the knife down.
3:06:30
Mr. Mickles yells that the knife is down, but it’s unclear whether that is true as he moves toward the officers. “Shoot me!” he says.
As the train comes to a stop behind him, he steps backward. When the doors open, he backs into a car.
“Don’t touch me,” he says. “What is wrong with you all?”
Officer Wong looks toward the front of the train and yells for the conductor to hold it in the station.
Mr. Mickles walks toward the far end of the car as Officer Mays shadows him from the platform. Soon, both officers are inside the car — as is Mr. LaFauci.
‘Put Down the Knife’
Image
Both officers fired their Tasers at Mr. Mickles, though it’s unclear whether the shots affected him.
As Mr. Mickles and the officers on the L train yell at one another, Mr. LaFauci’s immediate reaction is not fear but annoyance. He just wants to go home.
In his mind, he says later, the situation will soon be resolved, and the train will start moving again.
He is wrong.
3:06:50
Mr. Mickles, his right hand still behind him, curses as Officer Mays approaches.
In the seat closest to them is a man in a red shirt: Mr. Delpeche, on his way to work.
Get away, Officer Mays tells Mr. Delpeche as he waves his arm. Mr. Delpeche, 50, walks toward the far end of the car and, eventually, onto the platform.
By now both officers are facing Mr. Mickles.
“Put down the knife.”
“Shoot me.”
“Put down the knife.”
“Shoot me.”
The officers take out their Tasers. Mr. LaFauci, 34, looks at an older man with a mustache and a tweed coat sitting across from him. They make eye contact, and the older man rises to get off the train. Mr. LaFauci stays put.
3:06:58
One of the officers fires his Taser at Mr. Mickles outside the frame of the body-camera footage.
Mr. Mickles has been hit, but it’s unclear whether the prongs have penetrated his shirt or skin. He walks toward the officers. This time, both fire.
“Taser! Taser! Taser!” Officer Mays shouts.
Mr. LaFauci later says he thought it was an odd thing to yell after firing. The thin copper Taser wires hang in the air in front of him. Still, he is not afraid.
Mr. Mickles, swatting the Taser prongs away, steps onto the platform and runs back toward the stairway. Officer Mays tries to head him off, his partner behind him.
Mr. Delpeche, the man in the red shirt, is standing on the narrow platform next to a few other passengers. Mr. LaFauci is still on the train.
3:07:12
Mr. Mickles races at Officer Mays, who curses and backs up as his partner runs toward them.
3:07:15
Suddenly, Mr. Mickles stops near the open door of a car next to the one he was just in. He is facing Officer Wong several feet away. Officer Mays is farther down the platform. There are at least three people inside the car. One is Ms. Jahalal, on her way to her birthday dinner.
The officers have switched from Tasers to guns. They begin shooting.
3:07:18
Officer Wong fires six shots. Officer Mays fires three. Passengers scream and rush for safety. Mr. Mickles, clutching the knife, takes a couple of steps and crumples to the train floor.
“Put it down!” the officers yell. “Put it down! Put it down!”
3:07:21
“I’m shot!” Officer Mays shouts as he stands across the platform from Mr. Mickles.
In front of him, Mr. Mickles sits upright.
Both officers, guns drawn, continue to shout at him to put the knife down.
3:07:28
Officer Mays is yelling into his radio.
One of the bullets has hit him under the arm, and at least one is in Mr. Mickles’s abdomen. Another lodged in Ms. Jahalal’s left leg as she ran from the gunfire. Mr. Delpeche, who had moved as the police instructed, has been shot in the head.
It has been less than three minutes since Mr. Mickles slipped through the station gate.
‘A Violent Act’
Image
Mr. Mickles crumpled into a train car after the officers shot him. They fired a total of nine shots, and he was hit in the abdomen.
A subway ride costs $2.90. But the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the system, estimates that at least 10 percent of riders do not pay.
The mayor and other officials, in a nod to the “broken windows” model of policing, argue that being tough on fare evasion has helped reduce crime in the subway. But it is difficult, if not impossible, to prove how many crimes are avoided.
“Criminals don’t pay to ride, and stopping them at the gate makes us all safer,” Demetrius Crichlow, the head of New York City Transit, the authority division that runs the subway and buses, said in November after a fare evader was found with a loaded gun.
But the crackdown appears to mostly affect people of color, like Mr. Mickles: Of the roughly 2,800 people arrested on charges of fare evasion in last year’s third quarter, just 5 percent were white, according to Police Department data. Of the roughly 36,000 issued summonses for the offense, 16 percent were white.
“Cracking down on fare evasion has, to a large extent, amounted to cracking down in the highest-poverty station areas, which also tend to be in predominantly Black or Hispanic neighborhoods,” said Harold Stolper, a Columbia University economist.
The Sutter Avenue L station, which serves the mostly Black and Hispanic Brownsville neighborhood, had the second-highest rate of fare-evasion enforcement per ridership last year, according to Mr. Stolper’s research.
The mayor and police leaders insist that the Sutter Avenue shooting was not about fare enforcement but about a person who “had a clear mission to carry out a violent act,” as the mayor said at a news conference.
Mr. Mickles had a history of substance abuse and a criminal record that included convictions for burglary and selling drugs. Since 2014, he has spent a total of a little more than a year in city jails spread across four short stints. There is no indication the officers knew any of that when they chose to follow him.
Some people, like Mr. Adams, saw in his history and demeanor that day — and his quick brandishing of a blade — a man who was out looking for trouble. Others, like Mr. LaFauci, have wondered whether he would have just gone on his way had he not been approached by the police.
A Long Walk Home
Image
David LaFauci was on the subway on his way home from a trip when he got caught up in a confrontation between the police and a man the officers said had a knife.Credit...Juan Arredondo for The New York Times
After the police officers stopped firing at Mr. Mickles, Mr. LaFauci looked over and saw Mr. Delpeche on the floor of the subway car, his legs extended out onto the platform as if he had fallen backward. He took a few steps toward him and saw a halo of blood pooled around his head. Mr. LaFauci grabbed his backpack and finally got off the train.
He saw people carrying someone who appeared to be unconscious down the platform.
He felt his antipathy toward the officers rising.
“I’m not the most pro-police guy,” he acknowledged in an interview later.
In May 2020, Mr. LaFauci protested in Brooklyn after the police in Minnesota killed George Floyd. He later claimed in a lawsuit against the city that the officers had broken his hand with a baton before arresting him. The Brooklyn district attorney declined to prosecute, and the city settled with him for $115,000 without admitting wrongdoing.
This time, he had not been injured physically, but he was disoriented. Had it been 20 minutes since the gunshots rang out? More? He went down to the street, and an officer told him the block was being cleared, so he began the hour-plus walk home, even though friends he texted suggested he call an Uber. He flipped off police cruisers as they raced past him. Several times, he said, he broke down in tears.
‘A Long Road Ahead’
John Chell, the Police Department’s chief of patrol at the time, called the shooting “a tragic situation.” Mr. Adams offered his sympathy, too. “No one wants to see innocent people get hurt,” he said.But the mayor, a former police captain, also praised the officers for their “great level of restraint,” and he joined police leaders in saying that the shooting had been warranted because Mr. Mickles presented a risk to the officers and others. The police investigation is continuing.
As a result of his injuries from the shooting, Mr. Mickles had surgery to remove a large section of his small bowel and part of his stomach, as well as to repair 15 bullet holes in his arms, legs and abdominal wall, according to a city doctor’s report. He was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, attempted assault, menacing a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon and theft of services. He has pleaded not guilty.
Officer Mays, who was struck near his armpit, returned to duty almost immediately.
Mr. Delpeche, who needed emergency brain surgery, has made significant strides in his recovery, but “as far as being normal, it’s a long road ahead,” said Leighton Lee, a friend. A guardian has been appointed for him because of his injuries, and a lawyer hired by relatives has filed court papers indicating plans to sue the city for $80 million.
“The fact that he’s alive is amazing,” said Nicholas Liakas, the lawyer.
As for Ms. Jahalal, the bullet in her leg will be there forever, according to a notice of claim she and her husband, Daniel Jahalal, filed saying that they plan to sue the city for $70 million.
The police had said Ms. Jahalal was “grazed” by a bullet. According to her notice of claim, her injury prevents her from walking normally and has kept her from working. She appeared in a production of “Romeo and Juliet” while attending a small Brooklyn high school and studied as an English major at Lehman College for several years.
Mr. LaFauci, too, has signaled his intention to sue the city. In his case, the claim is for emotional distress: He says he is now scared to ride the subway, although like any New Yorker, he does when he has to.
Reporting was contributed by Ana Ley, Hurubie Meko and Wesley Parnell. Sheelagh McNeill and Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
Ed Shanahan is a rewrite reporter and editor covering breaking news and general assignments on the Metro desk. More about Ed Shanahan
A version of this article appears in print on March 9, 2025, Section MB, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Chaotic Day That Fed Subway Fears. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
See more on: N.Y. Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York City Transit
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@tallblacknyc
Free.99…join the Mta bus boycott by taking your own customer appreciation card and just walking on.. hey I’m tallblacknyc and I supported the Mta for the first 4 decades of my life, the city has made countless of thousands off my payments to their service.. so like most customers we sometimes deserve a lil customer appreciation and I decided to choose to take advantage of nonstop free rides.. don’t worry Mta you don’t have to print out a free card I just walk right on whenever I want to no questions ask..have a nice dayMTA set to hike fares in latest crunch on subway, LIRR and Metro-North riders
Subway and bus patrons aren’t the only ones facing a price crunch.
@tallblacknyc
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