Law enforcement officers are under fire like never before.
But with skyrocketing crime across the US, they’re more critical than ever.
Now a New York cop who plowed an ‘unsub’ with an SUV in this wild video is being hailed as a hero.
The moment when a Nassau County officer collided with an individual waving a gun was captured on what has become a viral video on social media.
It was reported a woman was waving a gun and pointing it at traffic in the middle of a busy intersection when the officer made a split-second decision to go after her with the police vehicle.
Despite being struck by a rapidly moving vehicle, the individual survived getting hit and was arrested before officers had them hauled off to a hospital for minor injuries.
🚨#BREAKING: Dramatic Incident Unfolds as Woman Fires Multiple Shots into the Air while Waving a Gun at People in Middle of Intersection⁰⁰📌#Bellmore | #NewYork⁰⁰Moments ago Law enforcement and authorities responded to a situation where a 33-year-old African American woman… pic.twitter.com/wAdQTRBgND
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) August 15, 2023
The Nassau County police commissioner, Patrick Ryder, quickly came to the officer’s defense telling FOX5 that the policeman who used his vehicle to stop her did a “great job.”
“It’s a loaded handgun that she’s waving around, in traffic, pointing at cars with their kids in the car. That cop made a split-second decision to put her on the ground. He did a great job,” Ryder said.
A woman waving a gun reported
Dispatchers had received several calls via 911 reporting that an unsub—a term used in law enforcement for an unknown subject or perpetrator—was waving a gun in the intersection and reportedly fired a round into the air before the officer was able to get the situation under control.
The full story behind the situation hasn’t emerged yet, but it is known that the suspect was later identified as 33-year-old Kiber Calderon—a person who also went by the alias of “Hanna Carillo.”
It appears this could be the latest case of an angry shooter coming out of the transgender community and Calderon now faces multiple charges, including “menacing and reckless endangerment,” along with a variety of drug charges, and weapons charges.
The officer was somehow also injured in the scuffle.
Ryder says he asked the officer about his method for taking down the suspect while both were at the hospital.
“I asked him at the hospital why and he said, ‘If I fired and I missed, there were people standing behind me,’ so that officer made a sound decision, a very good decision, and because of that decision, probably saved the lives of not others but himself and the individual with that gun,” the Police Commissioner explained.
ABC News contributor and former NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce also weighed in on the improvised vehicular takedown technique.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to train for this, but in this situation,” he said.
An Empire State of mind
But he added that “it worked and it was certainly justified by the threat of that gun to let that happen, so that’s important to understand.”
The unfolding mental health crisis has been an ongoing issue in the state with Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul promising earlier this year to drop a billion in taxpayer money to attempt to address it.
Stay tuned to Blue State Blues for any updates to this ongoing story.
