Police have charged the mentally disturbed man who they shot in the neck after he hit a police officer in the face with a cane, authorities said.
Dairon Bledsoe, 27, survived the Saturday-morning shooting, which unfolded in Bedford-Stuyvesant when two transit officers patrolling a subway stop on Lewis Avenue heard a loud banging, police said.
The officers ran to the street only to discover the man smashing the hood of their patrol car with his cane, authorities claim.
Bledsoe ignored orders to stop, eventually smacking one of the officers on the left side of the face with his cane, police said.
The injured officer’s partner opened fire when Bledsoe allegedly attempted a second swing of his cane, cops said.
But witnesses painted a different picture, insisting the officers were told by people in the neighborhood the man was mentally unsound.
“Several people warned the police that he was emotionally disturbed, but the police proceeded to chase him down,” said one man who gave his name only as Jason. “It seems like an overreaction.”
Surveillance video shows the victim taking a wild swing at the cop.
Lenora Johnson, who runs a nearby clothing shop, said the victim was waving his cane. “He was sick,” she said. “I saw [the officer] panicking. It happened so fast. It was horrifying.”
Others said Bledsoe swung his cane only after officers pursued him.
“He didn’t hit the cop car,” Luis Acevedo, 51, charged. “The cops came and started looking at the car. There was nothing wrong with it. We told them. They still went after him.”
The officer who was struck tried to use her night stick to subdue the man, but the stick broke, Acevedo said. Then her partner opened fire, he said.
“They didn’t give him no warning. They just shot him. The guy fell down right on the floor. We thought he was dead,” said Acevedo, who claims the man never actually struck the officer.
Bledsoe was taken to Kings County Hospital before being slapped with numerous charges including assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon, menacing and attempted criminal mischief, cops said.
One of the officers was treated for facial injuries while the other was treated for tinnitus.
Additional reporting by Kevin Fasick