Hundreds of NYPD Emergency Service Unit officers received additional training Monday at Floyd Bennett Field in the wake of the fatal Taser-related fall of a Bedford-Stuyvesant man last week.
The department's actions follow an incident Wednesday in which an officer used a stun gun on a man who had climbed out on a building ledge. The man fell, suffered serious head injuries and died.
Police advocates are calling for a mandatory 40-hour training program for those that deal with the emotionally disturbed. They also want a special crisis intervention team created so the Emergency Service Unit does not have to deal with those types of difficult situations.
Representatives for the NYPD have thrown their support behind the Emergency Services Unit, saying that it responds successfully to more than 80,000 distress calls every year.
The lieutenant and officer involved in the Taser incident have been assigned to desk duty, police say.