The incident started as a carjacking in Nassau County, and ended with a car crash in Cambria Heights as the driver appeared to attempt running over a plainclothes police officer. NBC New York’s Greg Cergol reports.
Surveillance video shows the moments before police shot and killed a 19-year-old who led them on a chase from Nassau County into Queens.
In the video from Tuesday's fatal incident, the driver seemingly tried to hit a plainclothes police officer before law enforcement opened fire in the Cambria Heights neighborhood. Unmarked Nassau County police cars had stopped and surrounded the vehicle on the sidewalk when it lurched forward and crashed into the side of a building.
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder wouldn't comment on why the officers fired at the car, killing the teen later identified as Matthew Felix, but the video appeared to show the driver attempt to strike the officer.
"Our officers were faced with the circumstances that resulted in the use of deadly physical force," Ryder said in a press conference Wednesday, adding that the NYPD and the Queens DA would be investigating the crash. The vehicle was removed from the side of the building Wednesday morning, hours after the incident.
Police said the investigation started as a result of a carjacking on Long Island. According to investigators, Felix stole a Mercedes-Benz at gunpoint in Garden City Park.
That car was then traced back to Felix's home on 221st Street in Cambria Heights. Plainclothes officers watched the house and then followed the teen when he got into another car outside, with the gunfire erupting just minutes later.
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Commissioner Ryder refused to say if the cops responded properly with the shooting, instead saying that the officers are with the Bureau of Special Operations, some of the highest-trained members of the department.
Despite not commenting on the officers' actions, Ryder did reveal that Felix has a police record including at least four arrests over the past four years.
No NYPD officers were involved in the shooting, but a slew of officers from the department responded to the scene, along with members of the Nassau County Police Department.
Neither the NYPD nor the Queens District Attorney would comment on the case. The Nassau County police said they were launching an internal investigation into the shooting.
