Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NYPD praised its handling of the West Indian Day Parade — so did community members
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Published Sep 6, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Rashida Zagon for Gothamist
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Published Sep 6, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Parade, which is known for its vibrant colors and cultural significance, is a highlight of the summer for thousands of New York City residents.
But the spectacle and its surrounding festivities are also known for episodes of violence that break out among the throngs of revelers – like a shooting that injured five people, including a 6-year-old boy, in 2020.
There were a series of stabbings and shooting incidents surrounding this year's parade, including a fatal shooting that took place after festivities concluded. But this year, NYPD officials and community members alike touted the event and security measures as overwhelmingly successful, crediting both the police deployment and the NYPD’s collaboration with local groups.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s getting better,” resident Wade Bernal, 67, told Gothamist in Crown Heights on Tuesday. Bernal said he has been attending the festival for decades. “We need more of that,” he said. “Control. Because if it’s not in control, it’s out of control.”
The parade's traditional route along Eastern Parkway showed few signs of the previous day’s excitement and clamor – just stacks of police barricades and occasional littered remnants of jerk chicken and rum drinks.
Tamauri Exum, 20, said he enjoyed dancing along the parade route this year, and the cops allowed revelers a safe space to do so: “They weren’t harassing nobody. They was just doing what they had to do. So as long as they chilling, we chilling.”
NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban praised the department’s handling of the event during a Wednesday press conference.
“J’Ouvert alone was an incredible success,” he said, referring to the carnival’s official kickoff celebration that starts with costumes, paint and steel drums in the wee hours of the morning.
While that part of the event has been tainted by gun violence in the past, zero incidents were reported this year.
NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said the success was due to “city agencies, elected officials, community leaders, violence interrupters and event organizers” working together.
Instead of writing summonses for loud music, Chell said officials just spoke with the DJs and asked them to turn the volume down.
“We got the music to acceptable levels, no summonses, no incidents, the party continued. That is why we actually pulled off a better J’Ouvert than last year,” Chell said.
“I was a J’Ouvert sergeant back in 2001. To compare J’Ouverts of the past to what we’re talking about now? Night and day,” he added.
Chell said 1,000 officers were deployed on and around Eastern Parkway for the parade itself, where several incidents erupted in the afternoon heat.
From about 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., as the streets around the main route swelled with costumed participants and spectators, police responded to a total of three stabbings, five slashings and four shootings — one of them fatal. Most of them occurred along Eastern Parkway.
Blood was still splattered on the sidewalk in front of 1014 Eastern Parkway, where a 33-year-old male was slashed in the left forearm, according to the NYPD. A police officer applied a tourniquet and the victim was transported to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.
The scene where a man was killed after the West Indian Day festivities.
Brittany Kriegstein/Gothamist
A few blocks away on Sterling Place, breathing equipment, rubber gloves and other medical devices were strewn on the sidewalk where first responders had tried to save the life of 51-year-old Muhammad Malik.
Malik, of Queens, was shot and killed around 8:49 p.m., long after the official festivities were over. Police arrested Crown Heights resident Sergio Codrington, 39, on Tuesday, charging him with murder and criminal weapons possession. The motive for the shooting is still unclear.
“That type of violence makes no sense in our community. We don’t accept it and we don’t condone it,” said neighborhood resident Shaundus Thomas, who was down the street from the scene on Wednesday.
Thomas said he saw the shooting's aftermath and blamed police for being slow to react even though they were nearby at the time.
“If you’re really doing your job and you’re walking around, situations like this wouldn’t have happened. You can’t tell me you’re active in the community when you’re just standing there,” he said.
But police officials said they were actively monitoring events with drones and boots on the ground, making 34 arrests and removing 30 guns across four precincts. Chell said officers reacted to each event “instantly,” and the drones helped clear thousands of people from the area after one of the shootings.
Chell had previously said that precinct commanders issued ceasefire warnings to local gang and crew leaders, asking them to keep the peace over the weekend.
Shelley Worrell, the CEO of CaribBeing, an organization that seeks to amplify and encourage the growth of Caribbean culture in East Flatbush said she felt overwhelmingly safe at this year’s event as she participated in the parade as part of a traditional costumed Mas group.
“I felt our police presence was just right,” Worrell said, though she said the event tends to be overpoliced relative to what the community actually needs.
Her only criticism, which was echoed by some other attendees interviewed by Gothamist, was that this year's crowd was smaller.
“In certain pockets of the parade, I felt like the crowd was less dense,” she said. "I definitely spent some time reflecting on that, and how gentrification is definitely displacing our culture and also our community.”
Worrell and other attendees interviewed by Gothamist couldn’t name a single cause for the violence that has often accompanied the events, but said it has more to do with the large, boisterous gathering than with anything else.
“Whenever it’s a lot of people in one spot, something’s always gonna happen,” said Exum. “Even if it’s a church gathering, as long as it’s a lot of people … someone’s gonna bump into someone, people are drinking, there’s liquor involved, so stuff is gonna happen.”
Bahar Ostadan contributed reporting
Tagged
jouvert
public safety
brooklyn
nypd
west indian day parade
Brittany Kriegstein
Brittany Kriegstein covers all breaking news around New York City, with a focus on crime and gun violence. Got a tip? Email Brittany at [email protected].
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Early Addition: Spy magazine is doing a Substack pop-up
Because the "Irony Epidemic" is hitting inboxes in honor of Spy's 40th anniversary, here are your early links: West Village gated school street, Trump still promising $5,000 checks, butter is in and more.
By
James Ramsay
Published Oct 6, 2026 at 8:57 a.m. ET
Bronx woman found dead and infant in critical condition after balcony fall, NYPD says
Police say it's still unclear whether the pair jumped, fell or were pushed.
By
Brittany Kriegstein
News
Bronx woman found dead and infant in critical condition after balcony fall, NYPD says
Police say it's still unclear whether the pair jumped, fell or were pushed.
By
Brittany Kriegstein
After Trump defunding, thousands losing rental assistance in NYC may finally have relief
By
David Brand
Blind man dismissed from grand jury duty can sue NY for discrimination, judge rules
By
Samantha Max
Gatorade recall affects drinks sold in New York and New Jersey
By
Giulia Heyward
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .