By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — A knife-wielding Staten Island suspect shot at by cops trying to arrest him was willing to die — as long as nobody hurt his cat, body camera video released by the NYPD Tuesday reveals.
“You going to shoot me, shoot me! But don’t shoot the cat!” Marcelino Allende screamed from his fire escape on Daniel Low Terrace in New Brighton during the March 25 confrontation with police, the video shows.
Members of the NYPD warrants squad were attempting to take Allende, 30, into custody for a past assault but he refused to surrender.
Click below to see full video.
After refusing to answer the door when cops banged on it at 6:20 a.m., he tried to crawl down his fire escape only to find cops waiting for him on the ground.
He was holding a small gray cat as he screamed and cursed at the cops, refusing to comply with their orders.
“Listen man, I’m gonna die!” he screamed. “I got no family! I got nothing to lose! I want to die! You ain’t going to be handcuffing me.”
Detective Genaro Barreiro, who ultimately fired a shot at Allende, first tried to calm the suspect down.
“I ain’t gonna kill you, that’s for sure,” the cop promised. “The farthest you’re going to go is jail, that’s it. If you want the cat to be safe, you got to come down, man!”
Allende again refused and went back into his apartment, forcing the cops to kick in the door.
When cops found him inside he had the cat in one hand and a knife in the other.
The officers tased him, bringing him to the ground, the video shows.
But Allende still refused to drop the knife and slashed at cops as they drew closer. Barreiro fired off a shot in the madness, hitting no one.
As soon as the shot was fired Allende’s bluster evaporated. He dropped the knife and raised his hands in surrender, the video shows.
“All right! All right!” he said calmly as cops rolled him onto his stomach and cuffed him. “I’m not resisting!”
Cops charged Allende with menacing a police officer, weapon possession, obstructing government administration and resisting arrest. He was also charged with assault and harassment for the March 18 incident that brought police to his door.
He is due back in Staten Island Criminal Court June 18 and is being held on Rikers Island on $50,000 bail.
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