On Friday night, the Westchester police shot at a Mount Vernon police officer brandishing a gun in front of a county social services building. The policeman killed was Christopher Ridley, who was off-duty at the time; now it turns out he had been trying to break up a brawl.
County lawmaker George Oros explained the gunfire erupted after Ridley got up from the ground with something in his hand outdrawn (he was 100 feet away.) Witnesses said Ridley saw a violent fight between homeless men as he was driving by.
Ridley grabbed his gun from his car and tucked it in his waistband as he exited the vehicle. While he was trying to separate the two men he was knocked to the ground and the weapon discharged. Westchester police who arrived on the scene asked Ridley to drop his gun, but when he didn't, they opened fire. A homeless couple who witnessed the exchange spoke to The New York Times:
“They told him put the gun down three times, and he wouldn’t put the gun down,” said Cathy, 44. She said that Officer Ridley might have been disoriented from the fight and unable to hear the officers’ commands. “He might have been dazed,” she said.
The shooting is now being described as "friendly fire". The Reverend Al Sharpton appeared alongside Ridley's family and called for people not to rush to judgment after the shooting.
Ridley was only 23 years old and joined the Mount Vernon police force in 2006. He was a member of Grace Baptist Church in his town, which is a member of Sharpton's congregation. The slain officer's father was a custodian at the church and its reverend remembered him always helping kids cross the street safely, "This was a young man who always had compassion for others. That's how he lived and that's how he died."
