NYPD releases bodycam video from Pelham Bay police-involved shooting
The bodycam video captures officers telling 34-year-old Daniel Ribustello multiple times to drop the knife on May 1.
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The NYPD has released body camera footage from May 1, when an officer shot a man who they say had been holding his mother hostage with a knife inside a Pelham Bay apartment.
Police say they were responding to a call a little after 11:30 p.m. due to reports that someone was threatening to hurt themselves with a knife.
Once they got to the apartment on Mulford Avenue, they were let inside by a man. Video shows another man, who has now been identified as 34-year-old Daniel Ribustello, grabbing a woman and putting a knife to her throat.
Police and court documents say that woman is his mother, and Ribustello is heard yelling at officers "if you don't shoot me, I'll kill her."
For around two minutes, the officers are heard trying to talk Ribustello down, but he continues to yell at them to shut up, and taunting them with racial slurs.
Eventually, an officer fires one shot, which hit Ribustello.
Sources say that Ribustello is still in the hospital a month after the shooting, but is expected to survive.
He faces charges including criminal possession of a weapon, unlawful imprisonment and menacing.
News 12 attempted to reach out to Ribustello’s lawyer, but was told "no comment."
Ribustello's mother meanwhile came away from the incident without any physical injuries.
The NYPD does have a pilot program called B-HEARD, where mental health professionals respond to some 911 calls instead of police officers to de-escalate.
While the program does cover the entire Bronx, B-HEARD teams will not respond if the 911 operator believes there is a chance of either violence or imminent harm.
News 12 is told that because it was known there was a knife involved in this case, they would not have been the first responders, although officers could have called them in for help after they arrived.
