Startling video shows the frantic seconds when a 35-year-old man wandered into a Brooklyn precinct stationhouse and attacked a police officer with a butcher knife.
Officer Venus Pagan, slashed in the face, fell to the ground as she fought off the suspect, Justin Coleman, 35, who ran off but was chased and shot dead by two other officers, video shows, as he moved toward one of them with the same weapon.
The videos, released last week by the NYPD, include a closed-circuit TV feed from inside the 73rd Precinct stationhouse, in Brownsville, the footage from Pagan’s camera, surveillance video from Saratoga Ave., where Coleman was killed and finally the body-worn footage from one of the cops who shot him, Officer Ernest Joseph.
The body-worn footage does not include sound because the clips are less than 60 seconds long — within a “buffer” period before the audio is activated.
Police released a photo of the knife used in the attack on officer inside a Brooklyn precinct. (NYPD)
Officer James Manginelli, the other cop who fired, was not equipped with a body-worn camera, though the NYPD refused to explain why.
The Sept. 7 confrontation started at 5:30 a.m. when Coleman, starts to enter the rear door of the stationhouse, an entrance that is off-limits to the public.
Closed-circuit TV video and Pagan’s body-worn camera video show the officer talking to Coleman, dressed in a winter parka, as he approaches from down the hall.
As he steps into the rear vestibule, the conversation continues for another six or so seconds.
Speaking a few hours after the incident, Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera said Pagan told Coleman that, if he needed help, he needed to go through the front entrance.
Surveillance video shows the moment a man with a knife entered a Brooklyn precinct and attacked an officer, before being shot. (NYPD)
Coleman can be seen on video gesturing with his right hand during the brief conversation with Pagan, then reaching under his winter coat and pulling out a foot-long knife.
“He slashed her in the face,” Rivera said, “but then she was able to fight him off.”
Coleman, the video shows, was able to push his way into the stationhouse, but Pagan pushed him back toward the door then fell to the ground.
She got up and gave chase, joined by several other officers.
Body camera video shows the moment a man with a knife entered a Brooklyn precinct and attacked an officer, before being shot. (NYPD)
At some point during the pursuit, an officer fired a Taser at Coleman, but it failed to subdue him, Rivera said, and Coleman refused orders to drop his knife.
Moments later, video shows Joseph and Manginelli firing 13 times after Coleman moves toward Manginelli, knife still in hand. Coleman tries to get up, then collapses by the curb, facedown.
Medics rushed him to Brookdale Hospital Center.
Pagan was treated for her injuries but was not badly hurt.
All of the officers involved remain on full duty while the shooting is investigated by the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division and by state Attorney General Letitia James.
Originally Published: October 14, 2025 at 4:22 PM EDT