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NYC Off Duty LEO Shoots, Kills Man In 5 AM Road Rage Incident

HankT

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Mr. Ruger meets mini-GLOCK...at5 AM Sunday morning at 117th Street and First Avenue...

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you you, that the word "alcohol" or "drugs" was not mentioned in this article. I wonder why?

bigthink.gif



I wonder what side LEO 229 will take on this one...



In any event, once again, HankT's Postulate of Civilian Self-Defense is supported:

It is a bad strategy to shoot an unarmed person.


It's amazing how well formulated thispostulate is. Kudos to HankT for being rightyet again...








October 23, 2007

In Fatal Road-Rage Shooting in Manhattan, a Police Officer Turns Himself In
By AL BAKER

A New York City police detective turned himself in to colleagues on the street yesterday and said he shot and killed another driver in a predawn road-rage encounter in Upper Manhattan on Sunday morning, the authorities said.

The detective, Sean Sawyer, 34, approached a police radio car around 1 a.m. near Central Park, said he had chest pains and requested an ambulance. He then told the sergeant and an officer in the radio car that he believed he had been involved in a shooting while he was off-duty in East Harlem about 19 hours earlier in which a man was killed, the authorities said.

The road-rage shooting was similar to many such confrontations: The mundane discourtesy of jockeying for position while trying to exit off a busy highway led to an angry exchange of words from car window to car window. It was after 5 a.m., and the victim and his two passengers had been drinking, the police said.

But this argument, which started on the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive, did not end with shouts. Instead, it appears that the two cars took turns chasing each other for several blocks after they exited in East Harlem, the police said.

One of the passengers in the victim’s car told investigators that the driver who died, Jayson Tirado, 25, raised his hand, pointed a finger at the office and said something about “Mr. Ruger,” apparently referring to a make of semiautomatic handgun.

At that point, the detective is believed to have opened fire with his 9-millimeter mini-Glock handgun, the police said.

Up to three shots were fired, the police said. Mr. Tirado was hit once as the cars idled at 117th Street and First Avenue, but he managed to continue driving for about three blocks. He then stopped at 120th Street, and paramedics took him to Harlem Hospital Center, where he died.

Mr. Tirado’s two passengers, Jason Batista, 21, and Anthony Mencia, 23, said in an interview yesterday evening that the other driver did not identify himself as an officer before opening fire.

Officer Sawyer works undercover, the authorities said. He joined the Police Department in 2004 and had been working in the narcotics division in Queens.

He was held yesterday at the 25th Precinct station house in Harlem before being released about 8 p.m. A prosecutor visited the station house, and officials were trying to determine whether to charge Officer Sawyer with a crime and whether he had acted in self defense, according to the authorities.

The officer was suspended from duty without pay and stripped of his gun and badge, said Stephen C. Worth, a lawyer for the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. He could face charges related to the shooting itself, and he may face departmental discipline, possibly for leaving the scene, officials said.

If the officer is not arrested, the case could go before a grand jury.

After the shooting, Officer Sawyer went home. Then he saw the news later on Sunday and learned that someone had been shot and killed, said a person with direct knowledge of the officer’s account. The officer started “reaching out to people and ultimately turns himself in,” the person said.

Mr. Tirado was described as a physically slight man who was focused on raising his 4-year-old daughter, earning money by fixing up cars and doing other odd jobs. The news that he was shot by a police officer who fled the scene drew expressions of surprise and anger from friends and relatives.

Mr. Tirado’s mother, Irene, 54, stood in the doorway of her seventh-floor apartment in the Jacob Riis Houses, a public housing complex in the East Village, and said that her son was shot and left to die.

“Now, I find out it was a police officer,” she said, clutching photos of her son as she cried.

The confrontation unfolded on the southbound Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive. About 5 a.m. on Sunday, a 27-year-old motorcyclist hit a light pole and was killed as he tried to switch lanes at 117th Street, the police said. All southbound traffic was then diverted from the drive.

The two drivers — Mr. Tirado in a Honda Civic and Officer Sawyer in a Nissan Xterra — yelled at one another as they maneuvered at the 116th Street exit. Mr. Tirado was not letting the yellow Nissan sport utility vehicle exit, the police said. “That is where this dispute starts,” one law enforcement official said.

Officer Sawyer, who had finished his shift at 7 p.m. on Saturday and was not due back to work until today, was alone in the Xterra, the police said. Mr. Tirado had two passengers in the Civic, the police said.

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said Mr. Tirado and his passengers “had been drinking.” In fact, he said, “there was one who stated that he was in such a state that he did not remember any of the events that happened.”

Officer Sawyer followed Mr. Tirado westbound on 116th Street, where more words were exchanged, according to one investigator, who said that the officer, at one point, apparently sped ahead of Mr. Tirado, who might have chased him down again.

At another point, both vehicles turned right onto northbound First Avenue. There, Mr. Tirado cut in front of the officer’s Nissan and hit his brakes. The officer swerved slightly to the right, and both cars came to a stop at about 117th Street, the police said.

The police said that one of Mr. Tirado’s passengers, in interviews, said that Mr. Tirado sort of turned backward, as if reaching behind his seat, and made the Ruger remark. He then aimed his fingers in the shape of a gun, the police said. No gun was found, one investigator said.

Officials said that Mr. Tirado’s precise words were unclear. One official said that Mr. Tirado said, “I have a new Ruger for you,” before reaching back and raising his arm with his index finger and thumb in the shape of a gun.

It was unclear yesterday if the officer had been drinking or where he had been between the end of his shift on Saturday night and the shooting on Sunday.

Mr. Batista, one of the men in Mr. Tirado’s car, said that as they were merging off the highway, a yellow Nissan tried to pull in front of them, but that Mr. Tirado did not let that happen. Then, at Pleasant Avenue, the Nissan’s driver pulled up to the driver’s side of the Honda, threatened the men and sped away.

He said the Nissan approached the Honda again at First Avenue and 117th Street and fired three shots through the back passenger side window of the Honda. The shots missed Mr. Batista, who was in the back seat, but hit Mr. Tirado. Mr. Mencia, the other passenger, was asleep in the front seat, Mr. Batista said.

“A minute,” Mr. Batista said. “In a minute all that happened, from getting off the exit to having my man shot in my hands.”

Nearly 19 hours later, at about 1 a.m. yesterday, Officer Sawyer walked up to two police officers from a housing unit who were near his home — a sergeant and a police officer in a car at Central Park West and 102nd Street — and said he was feeling some chest pains and wanted an ambulance, the police said.

Next, the police said, the man identified himself as a police officer and he said he believed he had been involved in a shooting in which someone was killed. Then he gave the sergeant his mini-Glock. Officer Sawyer said he was giving them a gun used in the shooting, saying, “This is the gun,” said a law enforcement official. An ambulance arrived and took the officer to the hospital for observation.

Office Sawyer is black; Mr. Tirado was described by the police as being Hispanic.

Officer Sawyer was described by the person with knowledge of his account as a married man and the father of two sons. That person said he believe that Office Sawyer had not been involved in an on-duty shooting. He is a born-again Christian, said his a family member, who spoke outside the officer’s home in Upper Manhattan.

“He didn’t seem like he was a violent type; I’m shocked,” said Sonia Liberato, a neighbor who said that Office Sawyer had lived in the area for several years. “He’s really good with the kids,” Ms. Liberato said.

Police later arrived and towed the Nissan Xterra away.
 

Wynder

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And they think it may be justified? Yay, for the blue wall.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/an-unusual-case-of-deadly-road-rage/

Sean Sawyer, 34, a New York City police officer who worked undercover, turned himself in on Monday, about 19 hours after he was involved in a deadly road-rage encounter in East Harlem on Sunday in which a man, Jayson Tirado, 25, was killed. As Al Baker explains in a front-page article, the two motorists began their dispute on the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive and continued it after exiting in East Harlem, chasing each other for several blocks.

One of the passengers in the victim’s car told investigators that Mr. Tirado raised his hand, pointed a finger at the officer and said something about “Mr. Ruger,” apparently referring to a make of semiautomatic handgun.

At that point, the officer is believed to have opened fire with his 9-millimeter mini-Glock handgun, the police said. Up to three shots were fired. Mr. Tirado’s two passengers, Jason Batista, 21, and Anthony Mencia, 23, said in interviews that the other driver did not identify himself as an officer before opening fire. Officer Sawyer worked undercover. He joined the Police Department in 2004 and had been working in the narcotics division in Queens.

It is unclear whether Officer Sawyer will face charges. The Daily News, citing unnamed sources, reports that the Manhattan district attorney’s office will present the case to a grand jury but that officials in the office believed the shooting was justified.

But questions remain as to why Officer Sawyer fled the scene without calling the authorities, as The New York Post notes. And if the back-and-forth car chase had never occurred, the deadly encounter might never have happened.
 

.40 Cal

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Maybe NY should just take their gun ban a step farther and make it illegal for cops to carry guns. That will make the city much safer. Guns are bad and ifgunswere not allowedin the city, there would be no gun crime; right???:quirky
 

HankT

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"clean shoot..."

Yeah, right. :X



Off-duty undercover cop in FDR rage shooting turns self in

BY KERRY BURKE, OREN YANIV, BARBARA ROSS and ALISON GENDAR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Tuesday, October 23rd 2007, 4:00 AM



An off-duty undercover cop claimed he killed another driver in a road-rage incident because he thought the unarmed Manhattan man was pulling a gun.

And while the dead man's mother accused the cop of killing her son "like a reckless teenager" and then vanishing for 24 hours because he may have been drunk, sources said the Manhattan district attorney's office thinks the shooting was justified.

NYPD undercover cop Sean Sawyer, 34, told cops he saw Jayson Tirado, 25, reach behind his back as if he was reaching for a gun. Instead, Tirado simply pointed his finger at Sawyer in a mock imitation of a weapon.

Sawyer fired at least three rounds through the back passenger window of Tirado's Honda, striking him under his right arm shortly before 6 a.m. Sunday.

The undercover cop, just three years on the job, then blew a red light and fled in a panic, police sources said.

Sawyer waited nearly 24 hours before he flagged down two uniformed cops on 102nd St. and Central Park West about 1 a.m. Monday and told them what happened. He later told cops he didn't think he hit anyone, sources said. "I think you guys are looking for me for the shooting last night on the FDR [Drive]," said Sawyer, a married father of two and born-again Christian.

"This is the gun I used," he said, handing over his off-duty 9-mm. Glock. "I thought the guy was armed - make a sign like a gun. I think I'm having a heart attack; please get an ambulance."

The Manhattan district attorney will present the case to a grand jury, sources said.

Tirado's mother said her son was gunned down like an animal and that Sawyer should be charged. "He killed him like a reckless teenager," Irene Tirado, 54, said through her sobs.

Sawyer, an undercover Queens narcotics cop, had gotten off work about 7 p.m. Saturday night. He has not told cops what he did between then and the shooting. The NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau was trying to piece together Sawyer's evening. Sawyer was not given a Breathalyzer test when he turned himself in at 1 a.m. Monday.

The standoff happened as Tirado and several buddies headed south from Inwood on the FDR Drive looking for breakfast. Some of Tirado's friends were drunk, but Tirado was sober enough to take the wheel, said Jason Batista, 21, who was in the car.Police said Batista initially told them that Tirado boasted, "Let me show you my new Ruger," as he made a motion like a gun with his hand at Sawyer as the two cars drove up First Ave.

"Even a hand gesture can't be mistaken for a gun," Batista later told reporters.

Tirado continued to drive until Batista, sitting in the backseat, pulled the emergency brake about 120th St. Batista cradled his dying friend's head in his lap.

Sawyer's brother Chris Sawyer, who spoke to his brother and his sister-in-law after the incident, called it a "clean shoot. He did what the city hired him for. You do not reach down into a car on a New York City police officer."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/2007/10/23/2007-10-23_offduty_undercover_cop_in_fdr_rage_shoot-1.html
 

HankT

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Tomahawk wrote:
snip...You do not reach down into a car on a New York City police officer."
Well, I guess the standards for being in fear for your life have fallen a bit in NYC.

And it's amazing how quickly the DA decided that it was a justified shooting.

I wonder what LEO 229 would say about this one...
 

.40 Cal

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The story continues to state that this guy is an undercover. Who wants to take a bet that his defense will be "work related stress resulting from deep cover"?

PS: Why doyou keep egging on LEO 229?
 

unrequited

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...same reason why he keeps egging on EVERYBODY. Now if you could only figure out that question you'd be set. > )

Me personally? Lack of fiber in the diet... backed up all the way up to the mouth.
 

HankT

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.40 Cal wrote:
The story continues to state that this guy is an undercover. Who wants to take a bet that his defense will be "work related stress resulting from deep cover"?

PS: Why doyou keep egging on LEO 229?

How does "I wonder what side LEO 229 will take on this one..." equate to "egging on LEO 229?"

:uhoh:

LEO 229 opines on a lot of stuff. He has the gumption to say what he thinks. And since he is a cop (How do we really know he is a LEO?) and this is a cop case, it would be interesting to hear what he has to say and that is why I put that sentence in the OP. Maybe he will opine on this case.I am not "egging" him on.

Actually, I wonder what catothinks aboutthis case, too. I guessthat is "egging" him on now??????

:uhoh:

Seems to me this is a discussion forum.That means, um, that people will,er,discuss things!
 

expvideo

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I think there are too many variables to know whether this was a good shoot. The guy could honestly have feared for his life, like his story says. I'm inclined to not believe him because he's a cop, and in my experience most cops are full of sh**. (I know that is not true of all cops, it's justthe majorityof the ones I've met, so my view of cops is probably a bit tainted*) Now the other thing that makes me skeptical is that he took a while to turn himself in. A cop should know that it's an ok shoot and not run off. On the other hand, it could be a justified shoot, but he had been drinking and knew that it would be a serious piece of evidence against him.

Perhaps Jesus took the wheel.

I don't know. I want to believe him, but he's acting really sketchy for a cop that should know a good shoot from a bad shoot. If he's telling the truth, I'd callit justifiable homicide. I just have a hard time believing cops.



*I'm sure to a cop this would sound like I'm the one with the problem. You'd be surprised. I'm actually really friendly and cooperative, and I don't act like a smart a**. I respect what cops are doing, and I don't ever break the law (I don't even speed). Yet for some reason, cops seem to hate me. I don't know what it is. I'm the most average and friendly person I know, I dress nicely, but I'm not a snob or a geek or anything else that might upset someone. Just a normal guy that's met too many crappy cops.
 

longwatch

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Merged another thread with this one. Hank stop trolling.
ETA Everyone else too. That means you .40 and Unrequited.
 

ilbob

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expvideo wrote:
I think there are too many variables to know whether this was a good shoot. The guy could honestly have feared for his life, like his story says. I'm inclined to not believe him because he's a cop, and in my experience most cops are full of sh**. (I know that is not true of all cops, it's justthe majorityof the ones I've met, so my view of cops is probably a bit tainted*) Now the other thing that makes me skeptical is that he took a while to turn himself in. A cop should know that it's an OK shoot and not run off. On the other hand, it could be a justified shoot, but he had been drinking and knew that it would be a serious piece of evidence against him.

Perhaps Jesus took the wheel.

I don't know. I want to believe him, but he's acting really sketchy for a cop that should know a good shoot from a bad shoot. If he's telling the truth, I'd callit justifiable homicide. I just have a hard time believing cops.



*I'm sure to a cop this would sound like I'm the one with the problem. You'd be surprised. I'm actually really friendly and cooperative, and I don't act like a smart a**. I respect what cops are doing, and I don't ever break the law (I don't even speed). Yet for some reason, cops seem to hate me. I don't know what it is. I'm the most average and friendly person I know, I dress nicely, but I'm not a snob or a geek or anything else that might upset someone. Just a normal guy that's met too many crappy cops.

Cops are funny creatures. Most of them seem to be control freaks and expect people to act subservient to them in their presence. If there is no indication of subservience, they just don't know quite how to take it.

As for cops being full of s***. Cops learn early on to lie with a straight face and an earnest expression, and they often do so. They can tell the biggest whoppers, and most people just accept it because it came from an authority figure. I just don't believe anything that comes from a cop unless I can verify it. Part of it is that being control freaks they have a really hard time admitting they do not know something, and have become quite good at making up something that, while not completely accurate, is quite plausible.

Could be he needed time to get a good story together and get the union lawyer on the line.
 

Doug Huffman

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/nyregion/24cop.html?pagewanted=print

The Manhattan district attorney’s office yesterday defended its decision to release an off-duty police officer who implicated himself in a fatal road-rage shooting — even though he fled the scene of the killing — saying that the officer’s claim of self-defense was enough to free him while a grand jury reviews potential charges.
The district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, was questioned about why the undercover police officer, Sean Sawyer, was not charged after he turned himself in on Monday, 19 hours after the shooting in Upper Manhattan.
“Where there is a claim of self-defense, as there is in this case, there is usually no immediate arrest,” Mr. Morgenthau said.
The shooting victim, Jayson Tirado, 25, was killed in a road-rage encounter early Sunday after a chase on First Avenue involving his purple Honda Civic and a yellow Nissan Xterra driven by Officer Sawyer, 34. When Mr. Tirado pulled in front of the Xterra and gestured as if he had a gun — though he was actually unarmed — shots were fired, according to one of Mr. Tirado’s two passengers.
Officer Sawyer turned himself in early Monday and was released by the authorities around 8:30 that night. His release angered Mr. Tirado’s friends and relatives.
“Why couldn’t he say, ‘Stop,’ and pull to the side like a normal policeman?” Mr. Tirado’s mother, Irene, 54, asked yesterday. She sat on a couch surrounded by photos of her son in the apartment they had shared at the Jacob Riis Houses in the East Village.
She said she understood that Officer Sawyer must have a “demanding and scary” job, but she questioned why he would fire a gun and then flee.
“I don’t want to know him; I don’t want to forgive him,” she said. “I don’t want him to be a policeman ever again.”
Officer Sawyer has made no official statements to the police or to prosecutors, but he made his first public comments to reporters yesterday as he left his apartment in Upper Manhattan.
“Of course I feel bad about it,” he said in a near-whisper while walking out of his front door at 1:30 p.m. “The guy was a human being.”
He called the events “personal.” Dressed in a red T-shirt and khaki pants, he walked north along Central Park West carrying a black bag and a children’s math textbook. (He is married and has two sons.)
Officer Sawyer added: “It was a loss of life. I wish it would have been different.” He then boarded a northbound C subway train.
One law enforcement official provided new details yesterday of the confrontation, saying that it was Officer Sawyer who first threatened violence. “Don’t you know how to drive?” he asked Mr. Tirado and his passengers.
According to the official, Officer Sawyer then said, “I’m going to have to cap one of you,” adding a racial epithet.
The officer is black, and Mr. Tirado and his two passengers are Hispanic.
Still, prosecutors said there was evidence that Officer Sawyer was possibly justified when he fired at the Honda. Officials said that idea was reinforced by the account of a passenger in Mr. Tirado’s car, Jason Batista, 21, who has said in interviews that after Officer Sawyer’s threat, Mr. Tirado hinted that he had a gun, and even pointed his finger in a firing motion.
Prosecutors said it was not unusual to delay charges in a homicide case, especially if there was a claim that the shooting was justified. One hypothetical example, officials said, would be when a store owner shoots a robber.
The decision to let Officer Sawyer go followed a 16-hour drama at the 25th Precinct station house in Harlem, where he was taken after turning himself in about 1 a.m. on Monday. The officer, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, was placed in a windowless second-floor interrogation room, according to a law enforcement official.
Other officers sought legal representation for Officer Sawyer, and Richard Murray, a lawyer who is on contract with the Policemen’s Benevolent Association, soon arrived. His presence stopped anyone from questioning Officer Sawyer, the law enforcement official said.
Officer Sawyer had already told snippets of his story when he turned himself in. He told two officers on the street that he was feeling ill because he had believed he might have killed a man, and he offered his gun — a Glock semiautomatic — as the possible weapon in the case.
Julie Nobel, a prosecutor in Mr. Morgenthau’s office, arrived after Mr. Murray and saw him at Officer Sawyer’s side, an investigator said. She never spoke to Officer Sawyer but interviewed some of the witnesses in the case, the investigator said.
Then she left to draw up search warrants: The police towed Officer Sawyer’s Nissan Xterra from outside his home on West 102nd Street, and four detectives carted some of his clothes out of his fifth-floor apartment so they could be tested for powder burns.
It was decided that because he was a police officer and had turned himself in, he would be released, though he would be suspended without pay and stripped of his gun and badge. The officer was allowed to slip quietly from the station house about 8:30 p.m., a law enforcement official said.
“The last thing you want to do is take any precipitous action in a case like this because there might be a self-defense claim,” said a law enforcement official who asked not to be quoted by name because he is not authorized to speak about the case.
Officer Sawyer — whose badge number is 1160 — was older than most recruits when he joined the Police Department in January 2004. But he was moved quickly into the undercover ranks, joining the Queens narcotics division a year ago. He had never been involved in a shooting.
“It’s the first time he ever pulled his gun, it’s the first time he ever shot someone,” said his brother, Christopher Sawyer.
It is not unusual for a minority officer to quickly join the department’s undercover operations. “A minority guy, or an undercover guy who fits in, might be more likely to succeed,” said one investigator.
Before joining the force, Officer Sawyer and his brother had been trying to break into the hip-hop and rhythm and blues side of the music industry, said a neighbor and childhood friend.
Another neighbor said the officer moved to the building on West 102nd Street when he was about 8 and was “a really great kid — no trouble.”
The police, meanwhile, released more details of the road-rage chase.
As the two vehicles were forced off the southbound Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive at 116th Street by an earlier motorcycle accident, Mr. Tirado would not allow the officer to merge, the police said. When the traffic cleared, the officer pulled up to the Honda and yelled at its occupants — and made the remark about having to “cap” — or shoot — someone.
Officer Sawyer then sped off ahead of the Honda. But Mr. Tirado chased him, pulled his car in front of Officer Sawyer’s Nissan and hit the brakes, coming to a stop. At that point, Mr. Tirado said, “You want to see the new Ruger I got under my seat?” referring to a make of a semiautomatic handgun, law enforcement officials said.
Mr. Tirado made a shooting motion with his hand, as if he was pointing a weapon back and to his right at Officer Tirado.
From the driver’s seat in the Nissan, Officer Sawyer fired two or three bullets, the police said. It is unclear where Officer Sawyer had his gun holstered and when he took his gun out and readied it for shooting.
One thing was clear yesterday: Officer Sawyer’s undercover career is gone for good.
 

LightsOut

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After the shooting, Officer Sawyer went home. Then he saw the news later on Sunday and learned that someone had been shot and killed, said a person with direct knowledge of the officer’s account. The officer started “reaching out to people and ultimately turns himself in,” the person said.


This officer should be fired immieditely just for this action, regardless of whether or not he acted in self-defense. NYPD rules stipulate that an officer off-duty MUST IMMIEDIETLEY report any shooting incident he's involved in. This goon shot 3 rounds, sped off, and went home as if nothing happened, took a nice 8 hour snooze, woke up, watched some t.v., then decided "hey this made the news! why don't I report this incident since they're going to trace it back to me eventually!".

Axe this jerk.
 

HankT

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LightsOut wrote:
This officer should be fired immieditely just for this action, regardless of whether or not he acted in self-defense. NYPD rules stipulate that an officer off-duty MUST IMMIEDIETLEY report any shooting incident he's involved in. This goon shot 3 rounds, sped off, and went home as if nothing happened, took a nice 8 hour snooze, woke up, watched some t.v., then decided "hey this made the news! why don't I report this incident since they're going to trace it back to me eventually!".

He would have had to take a breathalyzer test, too. But he would have passed it, probably. Said he only had 2 beers. He got off work at 7 PM and was heading home at 5 AM, so he would have measured real low.Yeah, right.

It's amazing how quickly and forcefully the blue line can close ranks--even in the face of a stinky play like Sawyer's.





Shooting by Off-Duty Officer Raises Issue of Police Drinking
BY SARAH GARLAND
October 26, 2007
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/65307

The alcohol issue is back for the police department, with public officials and family members of a man who was shot by an off-duty officer clamoring for answers this week to speculation that the officer's 19-hour delay in turning himself in could be because he was drunk at the time.

While there's been no evidence to support this theory in the case of the shooting death of Jayson Tirado by Officer Sean Sawyer, the accusations have once again raised an occasionally thorny fact of life for the city's police officers: A requirement that they be fit for duty at all times means that a beer — or maybe three — is the limit on their days off.

The department had already been wrestling with how to monitor alcohol consumption by officers following last year's shooting death of Sean Bell in Queens, which involved undercover officers who had been drinking. Supervising officers decided the officers were fit for duty at the time, but Commissioner Raymond Kelly recently implemented a new policy requiring breathalyzers for all officers who fire at suspects.

In this week's shooting, Mr. Sawyer left work on Saturday at 7 p.m., and headed home at around 5 a.m. the following morning. According to some published reports, he has admitted to having a couple of drinks, but has denied being drunk.

Under Mr. Kelly's new policy, Mr. Sawyer would have had to take the breath test — had he notified the police about the shooting earlier than he did.

Police unions are suing to force the police department to repeal the policy, which they say is unnecessary.

"It's a policy looking for a problem," a police union official said, noting that a study by the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association found that out of 38 shootings by off-duty officers since 1999, only three involved intoxicated officers.

At a Gramercy Park bar known for its cop clientele, Plug Uglies, a bartender who declined to give her name said that police from the nearby precinct often stop by after work.

"They have a few," she said. "But they're always well-behaved."

Still, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Jim Curran, said in an interview yesterday that just as in the larger society, alcohol is a widespread problem among police.

"It really is a curse for young people, and cops are relatively young people. Unfortunately it's a problem for them too," he said.

http://www.nysun.com/article/65307
 
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