Unarmed Black Man Shot & Killed by NYC Police - Fearful Police Blast Suspect in Car

It happened late last night near Hewitt place and Longwood Avenue in the Longwood section of the Bronx. An off-duty officer witnesses hit-and-run, and decides he is going to chase down the suspect but in the end the suspect ends up dead with a bullet in his back. The police department, at least at this hour, is saying very little about what happened here. The scene appears to be another shooting of unarmed man by an NYPD officer. This time an off-duty traffic officer whom police say confronted the driver of this car shortly after he had fled the scene of another accident around 11:30 p.m. Friday night in the Longwood section of the South Bronx. In this statement released to Eyewitness Witness News, police say, "witnesses told investigators that the officer was at the driver's door of the vehicle, with the door open when the vehicle lurched forward. The officer discharged his weapon, striking the driver one time." That one shot according to the medical examiner struck Fermin Arzu of the Bronx in the back piercing his heart and lung and killing him. An eyewitness says he heard several shot fired. "We parked and turned off the car and that's when we heard the gunshots," said witness Geraldo Reyes. It was like six or seven gunshots." "It seemed to me that if several shots were fired, the officer intentionally fired whatever his reasons were," said police practices expert Edward Mamet. This latest incident will further rub raw emotions frayed by last November's shooting of Sean Bell and the injuring of his two friends on his wedding day when police fired 50 shots after an officer says he was struck by Bell's car. The question left to the courts to decide was the shooting justified. Less than six months later, that question is now being raised again. Closing in on nearly 24 hours after the shooting, police are saying very little about it. It's not likely that any weapon was found since police would be quick to report that. The hit-and-run suspect dead with a bullet wound in the back and a family and community again asking for an explanation. [MORE]