Darius Kennedy 51, who confronted officers with a knife in Times Square, leading to a chase that drew hundreds of spectators, got shot and killed by the police.
The encounter played out Saturday around 3 p.m., when officers approached a 51-year-old man they say appeared to be smoking marijuana near West 44th Street and Seventh Avenue, in the heart of Times Square.
51 -year-old Darius Kennedy became agitated, pulled out an 11-inch knife and began to put a bandanna on his head, police said. He refused repeated orders to drop the weapon and began backing down the avenue, continuing for a number of blocks and drawing many officers into a slow-speed pursuit that took them south of Times Square.
According to the police account, officers pepper sprayed the man six times but he held onto the knife throughout the seven-block pursuit. At West 37th Street, he lunged at police and two officers shot him in the torso, police said. He was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital The Sun reported.
Cops said that Darius Kennedy was high on drugs and had been arrested 10 times before.
