Tyquan Eversley was a 21-year-old Black man and the father of a young son. In 2014, when he was 17, he was convicted of assault and served three years in prison. His life ended in a violent, public attack in the East New York section of Brooklyn.
On the afternoon of March 19, 2019, at around 5:15 p.m., Eversley was walking near New Lots Avenue and Cleveland Street when he was punched in the face without provocation. The punch set off a desperate chase that was captured on a series of surveillance videos. For several blocks, a group of about 10 men pursued Eversley on foot and in a car as he ran for his life through streets, alleys, and residential backyards. The pursuit ended behind a home on Elton Street, where Eversley tried to escape by climbing a six-foot fence topped with barbed wire. He became entangled in the wire, trapping him as his attackers closed in.
While Eversley was helplessly caught on the fence, one of his pursuers threw a large rock or boulder at him.
Another man then shot him five times. Eversley was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The NYPD described the killing as "brutal and brazen" and drew comparisons to the 2018 gang murder of Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz in the Bronx.
In the days that followed, police released the disturbing surveillance footage to the public, which led to numerous tips and a series of arrests. Michael Reid, 25, was identified as the man who threw the rock and was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Alfred Crooks, 22, and Rahmel Briggs, 22, were also arrested and charged with murder. In May 2019, Donaven McDay, 29, who police identified as the suspected gunman, was arrested in upstate New York and extradited to Brooklyn to face charges of murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Several other men were also taken into custody. Frank Cook, 33, Leroy Dunn, 35, Anthony Frazier, and Chief Poncedeleon were arrested and charged with crimes including manslaughter and gang assault for their alleged roles in the chase. However, in an October 2020 court decision, a Brooklyn judge dismissed all charges against those four men. The judge ruled that the evidence presented was not legally sufficient to prove they knew a murder would occur or that they intended to cause serious physical injury, even if they had witnessed the event or pointed out the victim's location.
As of October 2020, the murder charges against the primary defendants—Donaven McDay, Michael Reid, Alfred Crooks, and Rahmel Briggs—remained pending in court, with no trial verdicts or plea agreements having been reported.
