NY: Police officer shot dead by other officers

[Excaliber]

Update on the shooting:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/li_o ... 6Y7h5QYVEN" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Summary (info provide to NY Post by Nassau County Police Benevolent Association President):
- Initial event (shooting the guy with the knife) was over.
- MTA cops assisting with "mop up' duty
- NCPD Special Ops Officer Breitkopf and his partner roll up in their car
- Breitkopf walks towards house with rifle over his shoulder and badge hanging around his neck.
- Unidentified retired NYPD sergeant who lives in the neighborhood and was part of the looky-loo crowd shouts, "GUN!"
- One MTA cop tries to take rifle away from Breitkopf
- Other MTA cop, Glenn Gentile, shoots Breitkopf in the side
- MTA cops are trying to handcuff Breitkopf on the lawn when Breitkopf's partner runs up and yells, "He's one of us!"

That is a much uglier account of what was already an ugly incident.

[flintknapper]

Groan.......!


Well...you may be sure...we won't hear much more about this one.

[magillapd]

Ok, they need a law banning Off Duty police officers from owning guns. This is the exact argument that the lefties make about CHL holders. So, here's the fix. All hanguns need to be issued at briefing and turned back into the department when your shift ends. Let the on duty officers handle the situation.

See...makes no sense, but there you have it. Everyone will be safe and the guns will be at the police department!!

[Excaliber]

Ok, they need a law banning Off Duty police officers from owning guns. This is the exact argument that the lefties make about CHL holders. So, here's the fix. All hanguns need to be issued at briefing and turned back into the department when your shift ends. Let the on duty officers handle the situation.

See...makes no sense, but there you have it. Everyone will be safe and the guns will be at the police department!!

One small problem:

According to the reports I've seen, all the officers involved were on duty except for the retired officer who allegedly yelled "Gun!".

[ELB]

Groan.......!


Well...you may be sure...we won't hear much more about this one.

Dunno about that. This is getting uglier by the moment.

Various news reports are saying the Nassau County PBA president is calling for charges against the retired NYPD sergeant. He (PBA prez) is apparently claiming that the retired sergeant (John Cafarella) was "barking orders" at the scene, refused to leave or back off when told, and even took the dead officer's (Breitkopf) M-4 away from him (after he was dead and on the ground). The

Want uglier? The PBA prez says (and other reports seem to support) that Breitkopf had already been recognized by the other Nassau cops, got on scene about 10 minutes after the initial incident, and was talking with the NCPD guys with his rifle slung muzzle down over his shoulder. He turned and walked towards an MTA policeman. Then (again according to the PBA prez) the retired sergeant yelled "Gun," the MTA cop grabbed Breitkopf, which caused him to turn, and possibly pointed the muzzle more or less towards a second MTA cop, who fired one round.

A gunny forum in that area that I have been reading has a post saying local news is reporting the authorities have suspended Cafarella's pistol license and required him to surrender all his guns.

Breitkopf was a father of two boys, had been a volunteer fireman for 12 years, and was in the same academy class as another Nassau County police officer killed five weeks ago. These were the first LODDs that the NCPD has had in 18 years.


Time will tell how much of this is accurate, but if two police agencies go to war over it, I don't think it will be very quiet.

[had timeline screwed up -- corrected]

[ELB]

I just realized that in all the press accounts I have read, Breitkopf was carrying a "rifle," sometimes an "M-4." Never an "assault rifle." I would bet that as a NCPD Bureau of Operations officer, he was actually carrying a full auto M-4 or AR15 variant -- a true assault rifle. But this is not mentioned.

Odd, that.

[WildBill]

Even uglier, it seems that this retired LEO has a history of showing up where he is not wanted or needed.

A Nassau County police source said Cafarella, a Massapequa Park resident, then began "barking orders, even though he had no role or business being there."

"The question is, what was someone who is retired doing in the middle of not just a crime scene, but one where police just shot and killed the suspect?" another source asked. "Everything after that point is just tragedy."

The ex-cop who yelled “gun” before a Long Island police officer was killed in a “friendly fire” shooting is a retired NYPD veteran who has an annoying habit of listening to scanners and racing to locations where police are called, sources said yesterday.

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/Gen ... oting.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://gothamist.com/2011/03/16/retired ... shooti.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ELB]

...

The ex-cop who yelled “gun” before a Long Island police officer was killed in a “friendly fire” shooting is a retired NYPD veteran who has an annoying habit of listening to scanners and racing to locations where police are called, sources said yesterday.

True or not, the knives are out for this guy...

[WildBill]

...

The ex-cop who yelled “gun” before a Long Island police officer was killed in a “friendly fire” shooting is a retired NYPD veteran who has an annoying habit of listening to scanners and racing to locations where police are called, sources said yesterday.

True or not, the knives are out for this guy...

Sources say, the knives are out for this guy.

Of course I don't know the sources, but I can't imagine how they could be someone who is not either an LEO or dispatcher. How would be be possible for anyone else to know something like this?

[Excaliber]

What started out as already really ugly is now getting rapidly worse.

This is making my head hurt.

[baldeagle]

I have a problem with this story. You have multiple officers on scene, all of whom have guns. The retired detective yells, "Gun!". How in the world would anyone know about whom he was yelling?

[seamusTX]

Just as the saying, "Truth is the first casualty of war," this has already turned into a liars' contest.

The only fact that is beyond doubt is that an officer was shot dead.

- Jim