Police shot and killed a man in Brooklyn Saturday night after responding to reports of a woman trapped and screaming for help from inside a van in Coney Island.
The driver of the pickup truck, Omatoyo Neverson, was shot and killed on Belt Parkway following a police chase. Neverson, 26, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The woman was able to flee the vehicle and was not injured, police said.
“She confirmed that she was in the van, that she was screaming and that she got out of the vehicle before the officers arrived,” Deputy Chief Charles Minch, commander of the New York Police Department’s patrol in the southern borough of Brooklyn, said at a press conference.
The incident began at 7:20 p.m., when two people called 911 to report a possible kidnapping in Coney Island, at West 22nd Street and Surf Avenue, around 7:20 p.m., Minch said.
“The caller stated he saw a white van and said, ‘There’s a girl kicking and screaming in there,'” Minch said. “The caller stated that she heard the girl say, ‘Let me go’ several times. »
The callers, while on the phone with 911, saw two uniformed police officers and told them about the van. Minch said when those officers approached the vehicle, it took off at a high speed down the sidewalk.
The van entered the eastbound Belt Parkway but was slowed by heavy traffic, Minch said. The officers approached the vehicle and ordered Neverson to get out, then smashed the front passenger side window when he refused.
“The driver began driving forward and backward, indiscriminately striking police vehicles and occupied civilian vehicles,” Minch said.
Minch said police then attempted to use a Taser and pepper spray against the driver, but neither was “effective and the driver continued to ram nearby vehicles.”
Several officers then shot Neverson, Minch said. It’s unclear how many officers fired, or how many shots were fired.
Officers removed Neverson from the van and performed CPR while waiting for an ambulance, Minch said. Neverson was taken to NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn, formerly Lutheran Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
He had a known history of assaulting the woman, Minch said.
“The driver of the vehicle was wanted for unlawful imprisonment last month and also for domestic assault earlier this month,” Minch said. “The victim in both cases was the woman in the white van.”
Investigations are ongoing into the alleged kidnapping and fatal police shooting. Minch said the shooting was captured on police body cameras.
This story has been updated.
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