BREAKING: In response to the brutal NYPD shooting of their son and brother, 22-year-old Jabez Chakraborty on Monday, January 26th, the Chakraborty family issued the following statement:
We are shocked and outraged by the NYPD’s treatment of our son and brother, Jabez Chakraborty, and our family. We called for help. We called 911 for an ambulance to provide medical attention for our son, who was in emotional distress. We did not call the police. Instead of medical responders, the NYPD arrived and shot our son multiple times right in front of us. As our son was being shot, we were terrified that what happened to Win Rozario was going to happen to Jabez.
After shooting our son, the NYPD demanded we give them our phones and passwords, threatening us to comply. While our son lay shot on the floor, the NYPD acted like ICE, interrogating us on what country we were from, when we last visited, and whether our daughter was born here.
We were not allowed to go to the hospital with our son but instead forced to the precinct, where NYPD officers interrogated and detained us. The NYPD treated us cruelly when we didn’t even know if our son was alive.
When the NYPD finally allowed us to leave the precinct, we rushed to the hospital where we learned that our son was in critical condition. Still, the NYPD did not allow us to see him. The next morning, we were again forced to go to the 107 precinct to get a 24-hour pass just to see our son after officers gave us the runaround under the guise of “hospital policy.” We only got our phones and were allowed visitation to see our son without hassle thanks to the help of Desis Rising Up & Moving (DRUM) and the Public Advocate’s office.
After all this, we saw Mayor Mamdani’s statement applauding the NYPD officers that shot our son, threatened and lied to us, and kept us from seeing our son for over 24 hours. Why is the Mayor applauding officers who recklessly almost killed our son in front of us?
We are demanding that the Queens DA not press charges against our son. We demand to know, why did the NYPD come when we asked for an ambulance? Why is the NYPD posted outside of our son's hospital room while he is on a ventilator? Why did the NYPD take our phones through manipulation and without cause? Why have we been dehumanized, disrespected, and treated like criminals all while the NYPD were the ones who came and shot our son as if they came expressly to kill him?
