You may recall the awful friendly fire shooting that killed a Long Island police officer last March: MTA Officer Glenn Gentile shot Nassau County police officer Geoffrey Breitkopf dead after the latter showed up at a chaotic crime scene in plainclothes, without his shield displayed, and wielding an assault rifle. Today the Nassau County District Attorney released a report deciding that Gentile should not face criminal charges for the shooting. The report (below) also found no criminality in the two Nassau officers who shot a man with a knife at the scene, minutes before Breitkopf was killed.
According to a copy of the report obtained by Newsday (paywall), following the shooting of the emotionally disturbed man with the knife, Anthony DiGeronimo shooting, many police officers were gathered outside the house. "These officers, who were aware that shots had been fired, were responsible for controlling the civilian crowd, which created a highly charged environment." Investigators have determined that the other officers at the scene did not recognize Breitkopf was a cop, and Jose Ramos, an MTA officer, tried to physically stop Breitkopf from proceeding into the DiGeronimo house. "Gentile, Ramos's partner, observed a physical confrontation between Breitkopf and Officer Ramos," the report states.
The DA's report does not delve into whether another officer at the scene yelled "Gun!", which was initially reported in this engrossing NY Times account of the tragedy.
"From Officer Gentile's perspective, Officer Breitkopf was an armed civilian who was using his firearm to menace officers at a scene where shots had already been fired," the DA determined. "During this struggle, Officer Gentile observed that the ostensible civilian's assault rifle was raised, and moving, so that it appeared that the rifle was pointing at the officers involved in the struggle and others."
In the end, prosecutors decided that they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Gentile "did not reasonably believe that deadly physical force was about to be used against him or his fellow officers." As for DiGeronimo, the emotionally disturbed knife wielder who first drew cops to the scene, the DA ruled that police were justified in shooting him in his home. His family have criticized police for overreacting, but the DA has decided that the killing was justified because DiGeronimo rushed at the officers wearing a mask with "his arms raised to his head while clutching a knife with the tip pointing upward."
