Police, lawmaker defend officer's use of vehicle to stop alleged gun-wielding person in North Bellmore
NORTH BELLMORE, N.Y. -- Police took action on Tuesday when a person was seen firing a gun in the air and waving it around in broad daylight.
They used an unusual tactic to end the threat.
READ MORE: Nassau County Police officer strikes armed woman with vehicle
In the middle of a North Bellmore intersection in the middle of the afternoon, video shows Nassau County Police disarming a suspect with a police vehicle.
"We learn in training that you're going to use any method necessary to stop the threat," Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said.
Police responded after they say the gun had been fired into the air and was being waved around at pedestrians, adding the person with the gun sustained minor injuries. That person has been identified as Kiber Calderon, who they say also goes by Hanna Carillo. Charges the suspect is facing include criminal possession of a firearm and reckless endangerment.
"We don't train robots. We train human beings. And in this case, it was somewhat ingenious that this police officer took the action that he took," Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said.
"That officer made a choice to use his vehicle. He holstered his weapon after having it out. I asked him at the hospital why. He said because if I fired and I missed there were people standing behind him," Ryder said.
The police commissioner said officers have the option to use deadly force whenever they encounter it. CBS New York asked Steve Nasta, a 32-year veteran of the NYPD, about the use of a police vehicle in this case.
"It was broad daylight. There was a school nearby," said Nasta, an adjunct lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "I really think it was quick thinking on the part of the officers."
Nasta said police officers are trained to think of their firearms as a last resort. In his more than three decades with the NYPD, he says he only fired his weapon once.
"There's a guide of things you should and shouldn't do," Nasta said. "And although officers are trained not to use their car as a weapon, in this particular case I see there was no other alternative."
Police said the suspect was arrested in New York City on consecutive days in June of this year for trespassing and burglary, and was released in both circumstances without bail.
