NYPD Fires Sergeant Who Shot Unarmed Man While Off-Duty
Aug. 20, 2018, 2:47 p.m.
The ex-sergeant had previously been put on probation for assaulting his girlfriend.
Screenshot <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/NYPD-Sergeant-Police-Officer-Shoots-Man-Brooklyn-489966571.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">from NBC New York</a>
Late on Friday, it was revealed that the NYPD fired a sergeant who shot a man in the face on a Brooklyn sidewalk.
On August 2, the off-duty sergeant, Ritchard Blake, 40, was walking towards the subway at Livonia Avenue around 5 a.m. when he shot Thavone Santana, 22, in the face. Blake initially claimed that he was worried that Santana would assault him but it turned out that the two men actually knew each other through a woman, Debbie Lima. According to the Post, "Moments before the shooting, Blake, Santana and Lima were all screaming at each other in Lima’s doorway with Santana at one point telling Blake, 'Control your bitch!' neighbors said."
Surveillance video showed Blake and Santana during the shooting. As NBC New York described it, "The footage, which contains no audio, shows the two men having words for about 20 seconds before the sergeant pulls his gun. The other man appears to brace himself before being shot. Afterward, the officer can be seen dropping a shiny item next to the man; he later returns and picks the item back up."
"[Blake] had previously told officers that he was worried about the safety of his girlfriend, whose relationship with the two men had been a source of simmering friction between them," the NY Times reported, also noting that the police gave conflicting accounts. "The Police Department said on Thursday that the sergeant fired because a man pretending to have a gun tried to rob him. A police official later said Mr. Santana had told Sergeant Blake that he had a gun, but not that Mr. Santana had been trying to rob him."
Santana has been hospitalized since the shooting; at a press conference, his mother said he was conscious but was unable to speak.
Blake had been stripped of his gun and badge following the shooting.
Santana's mother, Assembly Member Charles Barron, and others demanded that Blake be arrested during the Saturday press conference. Barron said, "Arrest him, indict him, convict him and send him to jail. We have an officer that we pay to protect us, and he decides he’s going to go street?"
In March, the Daily News noted that he "was suspended 36 days and placed on dismissal probation on Sept. 27 — almost 11 months after he was arrested on charges he hit his girlfriend in the face in his Brooklyn home."
