Police shot and killed a Canarsie man because he lunged at them with a kitchen knife inside his E. 99th Street home on Jan. 3.
Officers responded to a 911 call that 63-year-old James Owens was acting in a “non-violent emotionally disturbed” manner at his home between Flatlands Avenue and Avenue J at about 9:30 pm.
Owens’s sister let the officers in, but then Owens emerged from a back room, grabbed a 13-inch knife from the kitchen, and made for the police, authorities claim.
One of the cops fired a Taser, but it “had no effect,” so a second officer fired his service weapon, striking Owens in the neck and torso, a police spokesman said.
Emergency responders took Owens to Brookdale Hospital, where officials pronounced him dead, according to authorities.
Tasers may not stop individuals who are highly intoxicated, according to a department spokesman said, who said officials are investigating why the non-lethal stun gun did not work.
