The man shot dead by an NYPD transit officer in Brighton Beach yesterday afternoon had assaulted a woman outside of the Ocean Parkway Q station moments before he attacked the officer, officials announced last night. The officer, Filippo Gugliara, 24, was slashed in the collarbone when he tried to subdue the man.
According to the preliminary investigation, the man, identified as Oleg Tchernik, 58, had gotten into an argument with a shopkeeper inside a store by the subway entrance. An unnamed 78-year-old woman intervened in that dispute, and their argument became physical outside the store. Police say Tchernik threw the woman to the ground, causing bruising.
Officer Gugliara heard the screaming and rushed downstairs from the elevated subway platform where he was stationed, then attempted to apprehend Tchernik. But Tchernik allegedly stabbed Officer Gugliara with an 11-inch knife as the officer tried to subdue him.
Officials say Gugliara ordered Tchernik to drop the knife, and then fired two shots, fatally striking him in the torso. The knife was recovered at the scene. (During a press conference yesterday, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton described it as a hunting knife.) Graphic amateur video taken at the scene shows Tchernik lying face down on the sidewalk following the shooting.
The knife in question (NYPD)
In a statement released last night, Bratton offered the police version of the incident:
At approximately 1:15pm this afternoon a uniformed police officer assigned to a transit foot post near West First Street in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn was stabbed in the neck by a 58 year old male suspect who was subsequently shot by the officer. The male suspect was later pronounced deceased at the scene.
The police officer, who is assigned to Transit District 34 in Brooklyn, was standing on the elevated subway platform at the Ocean Parkway station on the Q line when he heard a commotion coming from the street level. When he descended to the street the police officer encountered a 58 year old white male who had just assaulted a 78 year old white female.
While attempting to apprehend the male suspect, the officer was assaulted with an eleven inch hunting knife, sustaining a wound to his neck. The officer fired two rounds striking the suspect in the torso.The injured police officer was transported to Lutheran Medical Center where he is currently being treated and is listed in stable condition. The male suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity is pending family notification. The knife was recovered at the scene.
The preliminary investigation reveals that the suspect had been involved in an altercation in a nearby store and assaulted the female after she attempted to intervene. The details of this prior encounter are still being investigated. It appears at this time that there was no known connection between the deceased suspect and the 78 year old female victim.
Investigators believe that Officer Gugliara's injury could have been much worse had the strap of his bullet-resistant vest not partially deflected the knife.
Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio met with Gugliara yesterday as he recovered at NYU Lutheran Medical Center. Afterward, de Blasio told reporters, "He pursued this perp, followed his training, did the right thing - went toward the danger. It was so good to see him - thank God - in great shape upstairs.
"This is an example to this city of the kind of men and women who join the NYPD, who are ready to serve, who are ready to walk into harm’s way to make sure their fellow New Yorkers are safe. He heard the cries of the elderly woman. He went to the scene. He confronted the perpetrator. And thank God, the officer came out okay."
