NEW YORK | Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:01am EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City Police shot and killed a knife-wielding suspect as he weaved through Saturday afternoon traffic and pedestrians in New York's Times Square, authorities said.
Police said Sunday they approached Darrius Kennedy, 51, while he was smoking what appeared to be marijuana. He became agitated and confronted the officers with a knife, a police spokesman said.
"He was ordered to put down the knife and he refused," said the spokesman, Martin Speechley.
He added that Kennedy was pepper-sprayed six times but did not respond. After he was again told to drop the knife, two officers fired on him, hitting him in the torso.
Kennedy was later pronounced dead at a hospital, the spokesman said.
The incident may stir additional controversy about the city's so-called stop-and-frisk policies, which have been criticized as targeting racial minorities. Kennedy was black. (Reporting By Edith Honan; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City Police shot and killed a knife-wielding suspect as he weaved through Saturday afternoon traffic and pedestrians in New York's Times Square, authorities said.
Police said Sunday they approached Darrius Kennedy, 51, while he was smoking what appeared to be marijuana. He became agitated and confronted the officers with a knife, a police spokesman said.
"He was ordered to put down the knife and he refused," said the spokesman, Martin Speechley.
He added that Kennedy was pepper-sprayed six times but did not respond. After he was again told to drop the knife, two officers fired on him, hitting him in the torso.
Kennedy was later pronounced dead at a hospital, the spokesman said.
The incident may stir additional controversy about the city's so-called stop-and-frisk policies, which have been criticized as targeting racial minorities. Kennedy was black. (Reporting By Edith Honan; Editing by Doina Chiacu)