Civil Liberties

NYPD Cops Can't Stop Drunkenly Shooting at People This Week

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Large image on homepages | Pete Stewart/Flickr
(Pete Stewart/Flickr )
NYPD

There's a saying that if something happens once it's a fluke, twice it's a coincidence, and three times it's a trend. It would seem, then, that the latest trendy thing for New York City cops is to get drunk and shoot at people. Within a recent span of seven days:

  • On Wednesday, April 23, NYPD Detective Jay Poggi got drunk and accidently shot his partner in the wrist with a .38 revolver. Instead of calling an ambulance, Poggi decided to personally drive his wounded partner to the hospital—netting him a DWI after he blew a .113 on a blood alcohol test. Investigators believe the shooting occurred when the on-duty officers, who had just consumed 11 beers apiece, were firing the gun in the air. 
  • On Tuesday, April 29, NYPD Officer Brendan Cronin got wasted, got behind the wheel of his car, and while stopping at a red light took the opportunity to fire 13 shots at a nearby car for no apparent reason. The man driving the other car wound up taking six of these bullets, with one just missing his head. (He is now in stable condition.) A witness called 911 as Cronin fled the scene with his hazard lights blinking. When cops caught up with Cronin not long after, he was still driving with the hazards on and said he didn't remember firing his gun.  
  • On Wednesday, April 30, off-duty NYPD Sgt. Wanda Anthony drunkenly shot at a woman's car outside of New Jersey strip club in what's being labled a "domestic dispute." 

The week before all these shootings, another three off-duty NYPD officers were charged with driving under the influence. In a press conference this week, NYPD Commissioner William Bratton admitted that perhaps the department had a "problem of inappropriate use of alcohol by members of the department." 

Also last week—right around the time Detective Poggi was tying one on and firing his gun in the air like some sort of old-timey prospector—the NYPD's social media team asked people to tweet photos of themselves with city cops, using the hashtag #MyNYPD. They were surprised when the results weren't entirely positive.