Ryder: Police SUV takes down armed woman in North Bellmore intersection

A Nassau County police officer used his patrol SUV to knock down and disarm a woman Tuesday afternoon at a North Bellmore intersection after she allegedly fired a round from a handgun in the air and waved it at vehicles, Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said.

Officers were called to the intersection of Jerusalem and Bellmore avenues about 2:20 p.m., Ryder said.

The 33-year-old woman, who was not identified, allegedly fired a single shot from the semi-automatic pistol, the police commissioner said at a news conference at the scene. In response to a question about how the situation was handled, Ryder said the officer followed protocol.

“I am never going to Monday-morning quarterback my cops,” Ryder said.

“She was waving the gun around at innocent people, putting them in fear for their lives in their vehicles," he said. "My officers then made a decision to strike the individual with their vehicle knocking her to the ground."

The incident occurred near the Nassau BOCES Children's Readiness Center on Jerusalem Avenue. School officials said students were already dismissed at the time.

The owner of a nearby BP gas station captured the altercation on video. 

On the video, which lasts 1 minute and 44 seconds, the woman can be seen walking backward in the intersection, waving the handgun at several drivers in their stopped vehicles and then pointing it at her head. The Nassau police SUV then comes into view, its tires screeching but without the emergency lights activated, before the front right bumper hits her legs and she collapses on the road.

"I saw a lady … she was standing there, leaning on a fence … she basically had a gun in her hand, she was pointing at people," said Hamza Amir, 22, of Wantagh, who shot the video and owns the BP station on Jerusalem Avenue.

"When I went past her," Amir said, "she pointed the gun at me and once she pointed the gun at me, I sped up.”

The woman was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for minor injuries, Ryder said, and the officer who struck her received treatment at a hospital for emotional trauma.

Michael Alcazar, a retired NYPD detective and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the Nassau County Police Department likely has a policy governing its officers’ actions in a situation like this.

As for the NYPD, he said, officers are “not allowed to hit people with the car, even if they’re shooting at you.”

Under NYPD policies, officers would likely “isolate and contain” the woman until specialized units like K-9 and negotiators could deploy, he said.

Ryder defended the officer's actions.

He said department protocol allows officers to use deadly force in response to "deadly physical force. That's the law. If somebody's threatened deadly physical force against you or another. You have the right to use deadly physical force."

Ryder praised the officers on the scene and said they "faced down deadly physical force against civilians and themselves, and they used the vehicle to stop that threat. The other option on the table is to take out the gun and shoot it. They didn't do that. They chose an alternative option … and probably save people's lives, including their own.”

With Nicholas Spangler

Correction: An earlier verision of this story did not accurately describe the precise series of events in the video.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.