east flatbush

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"A Brooklyn detective shot and killed an unarmed woman in a stolen car after she blew through three red lights, hit a minivan and tried to escape by driving in reverse, police said. The incident unfolded about 5:40 p.m. in East Flatbush when two plainclothes narcotics cops spotted Shantel Davis, 23, at the wheel of a gray Toyota Camry she allegedly carjacked at gunpoint on June 5. Davis — who had eight arrests on her rap sheet, sources said — ran a series of red lights along Church Ave. and crossed a double yellow line to pass cars at E. 38th St., where she smacked into the minivan, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. As the two cops approached the Camry, they saw Davis slide over to the passenger side, where the seat had been stripped out, and try to open the door. One officer, who has been on the force six years, got hit by the door and was thrown backward, Browne said. Davis then got back in the driver's seat, put the car in reverse and hit the gas, police said. Simultaneously, another cop, identifed by sources as Detective Phillip Atkins, 44, was entering the driver's side of the Camry, with his gun in hand. "He's attempting with the other hand to shift the gear into park," Browne said. "When she's hitting the gas, a single round was discharged from his firearm, striking the woman in the chest." Browne said it was too soon to say whether the detective, who has 12 years on the force, meant to pull the trigger or if it was an accident. Witnesses described a scene of chaos before the shooting. Dave McKenzie said he heard the cops yelling: "Get out! Get out!" "They try to pull her out of the car, and she fights them," McKenzie said, recalling the woman screaming, "Let me go! Let me go!" " 'I don't want to be killed! Don't kill me!' " the woman yelled, McKenzie added. Lorraine Preddie, 61, said that after she heard the crash, she saw the detective in a blue NYPD T- shirt with a shield around his neck. "The next thing I saw was the police officer took his gun out and fired a shot," she said. Witnesses said it was instantly clear the woman was gravely wounded."She was bleeding, and then she just dropped. She fell on the floor facedown. She was shaking and the blood was just going out of her," said one woman who works at a nearby laundermat. "She was in the street," Preddie said. "They started giving her chest compressions and took her in the ambulance." Davis died at Kings County Hospital. Councilman Jumaane Williams broke the news to her family. Police said the owner of the Camry confirmed that Davis swiped the vehicle. Davis, who was identified by family members, was due in court Friday on a kidnapping and attempted murder case stemming from a May 2011 attack. "This is like a bad dream," said cousin Stephanie Gilmer, 40, who called Davis a "sweetie pie." "She was only 23. She had her whole life in front of her." Despite Davis' criminal record, Assemblyman Nick Perry said he was concerned about the circumstances of her death "because the investigation I have seems to suggest this woman was not a threat." Mike Palladino, head of NYPD detectives union, backed Atkins, who had never fired his gun in the line of duty. "Based on the facts and the circumstances, I'm confident that our detective's actions were appropriate and justified," Palladino said