Cops
fired 10 bullets at an emotionally disturbed man because a confused officer
screamed out he was being stabbed — when he’d accidentally been Tasered by a
colleague, an explosive new lawsuit charges.
Police
are claiming the officers who responded to Mohamed Bah’s Harlem apartment in
2012 opened fire — fatally hitting him with eight bullets — because he was
lunging at them with a knife.
When
they entered the dimly lit apartment, cops tried to subdue the African
immigrant with Tasers and guns firing rubber pellets.
Officer
Joseph McCormack fired his stun gun, striking Officer Edwin Mateo “from
behind,’’ according to Bah family lawyer Randolph M. McLaughlin, of the law
firm Newman Ferrara.
Mateo,
who’d recently returned from a National Guard tour in Afghanistan, yelled,
“He’s stabbing me. Shoot him,’’ according to the $70 million lawsuit, which is
being filed Monday in Manhattan federal court.
The
lawsuit also claims the 28-year-old Guinean was still alive, although barely,
after being shot – but then was callously “dragged” by authorities through the
building’s hallways, leaving a trial of “smeared” blood.
“First
they shoot the man and treat him like a criminal – and then they drag him down
the hallway like an animal,” said McLaughlin.
“Perhaps
he’d still be alive if they just picked him up.
“This
kind of behavior shocks the conscience and should not be tolerated on a
civilized police force.’’
Two
weeks ago, a grand jury empanelled by Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance found the cops —
who had responded to a 911 call by Bah’s mother seeking medical help for her
son — were justified in using deadly force and shouldn’t face criminal charges.
The
Bah family’s lawsuit, which adds the new allegations to previously filed legal
papers, relies on eyewitness accounts, police reports and other official
documents, McLaughlin said.
It
quotes Bah’s mother saying her son was still alive, if barely, when emergency
responders tried reviving him outside the building.
He
died soon afterward at a local hospital.
The
lawsuit names as defendants the city, the NYPD, and the three cops who it’s
believed fired the fatal shots: Mateo, Andrew Kress and Michael Green.
Bah’s
mom says she called 911 not expecting armed cops brandishing tactical gear to
show up.
She
says she only wanted medics to treat her son, who suffered from depression.
McLaughlin
said there’s another bizarre angle to the case.
The
city probably won’t be able to introduce into evidence the knife cops claim his
client was using to fight off the officers.
McLaughlin
said he was told it mysteriously disappeared from a flooded police warehouse
during Superstorm Sandy.
The
NYPD — which is still conducting its own internal probe — referred questions to
the city’s Law Department.
A
Law Department spokesman said: “The case involves tragic circumstances,’’ and
officials will “evaluate the matter thoroughly.’’
