Man Killed on Beach 56th in Struggle With Police
On Thursday, December 29, a 31-year-old man was shot and killed by police during a violent struggle.
According to NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, who held a press conference after the incident, at around 8 p.m. on Thursday, members of the 101st Precinct neighborhood safety team were investigating 439 Beach 56th Street. When one sergeant and two officers approached the lobby, two males took off running. One was apprehended and arrested for narcotics. The second man was stopped at Beach 56th and Beach Channel Drive, where a “violent struggle ensued” for 20 seconds, as seen on external video. At some point during the struggle, an officer fired his weapon, striking the perpetrator, who was in possession of a loaded 40-caliber semi-automatic firearm. It is not believed that the perpetrator fired his gun. Chief Chell displayed a photo of the firearm that was recovered at the scene at the end of the conference on Thursday night.
After the perpetrator was hit in the torso, officers rendered lifesaving techniques before he and the officers were transported to an area hospital.
The man who was shot died of his injuries. He was later identified as 31-year-old Quayshawn Samuel.
According to the New York Daily News, it was not Samuel’s first run in with the law. In 2009, he was arrested for attempted murder during a shooting. He was then convicted of attempted murder in 2014 for a 2012 shooting. Samuel served almost eight years in a state prison following that conviction. He was released in May and was on parole until June 2023.
On Tuesday, January 3, the New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation announced that it opened an investigation into the death of Samuel, as part of a normal procedure following an officer-involved shooting.
Photos by Theresa Racine.
