Posted on 03/16/2011 6:38:06 AM PDT by marktwain
The friendly-fire shooting that cost a Long Island cop his life was a point-blank blunder that started when a retired cop with no business at the scene yelled, "Gun," an official said yesterday.
Geoffrey Breitkopf, 40, was shot and killed Saturday by an MTA cop responding to a call at a Massapequa Park house where Nassau police had killed a knife-wielding Satan worshipper.
The MTA officers were assisting county cops with mop-up duty when Nassau County Special Ops Officer Breitkopf arrived in a car with his partner, according to Nassau County Police Benevolent Association president James Carver. BREITKOPF - Slain by cop. BREITKOPF Slain by cop.
As Breitkopf walked toward the house in plain clothes with a rifle slung over his shoulder and his badge around his neck, an unidentified retired NYPD sergeant from the neighborhood -- milling around outside -- cried out, "Gun!" Carver said.
One of the MTA cops tried to wrestle the rifle away, while the other, Glenn Gentile, fired a single shot, hitting Breitkopf in the side, Carver said.
Gentile and his partner were then trying to handcuff the dying officer on the lawn when his hysterical partner ran over and cried, "He's one of us," according to Carver.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I hope the "unidentified retired NYPD sergeant" will be charged with homicide.
Rifle Slung over his shoulder? And they fired at point blank range? And the officer was wearing his badge around his neck? And he had his partner with him? Things ain’t adding up...........
Massive screw up in a sleepy Long Island town. Bad, bad crime scene management by dopey local cops, with a lunatic meddler fool with a police scanner, trigger happy other idiots who should not have been on the scene, and bad coordination with Special Service cops who arrived in civilian clothes long after the psychotic kid who started it all was shot down.
I hope heads will roll on this colossal screw up. Disgraceful police work. I blame the management, the higher ups.
Hoplophobia at it’s best.
A rifle slung over a shoulder, calmly walking where there is plenty of law enforcement, and there is still panic at the word “gun”.
If an officer, retired or not, saw a man with a rifle slung over his shoulder and thought the person should not be there, they could have approached the person and identified themselves and asked questions.
I do blame the retired officer for setting it off, but why try to grab the weapon and then fire into a struggle? Those officers are likewise culpable for their panicky and poorly chosen decisions.
The real take away from this is that the cops will INSTANTLY kill anyone with a gun UNLESS it is glaringly obvious that its a cop.
“The retired officer who yelled “gun” has a habit of listening to a scanner and going to the scene.”
I didn’t see that in the article.
The deceased must have been refusing payola.
This is tragic.
Homicide? Isn't that a little harsh? The man will have to live with the consequences of his action. That would seem to be punishment enough for a well meaning blunder.
Here’s the problem with institutionalized hoplophobia: the presence of a morally neutral tool of deadly force such as a gun does not necessarily indicate a bad guy. A better solution would be the one the Founders intended: Americans owning and carrying arms everywhere.
I’m with Red Badger. This doesn’t add up. A cop shoots a guy while the cop’s partner is wrestling with the guy? Really?
Yep. Grabbing your gun and charging into a situation in progress is a really good way to get shot.
In movies the undercover guys are always chasing the perps down crowded streets, guns in hand, and nobody ever has a problem telling who is who. Always wondered about that.
And this is where the boot-lickers take objection. It doesn't matter that the cop was in no REAL danger. He just has to SAY he was in danger to blow the citizen away.
“The retired officer who yelled “gun” has a habit of listening to a scanner and going to the scene”.
Sounds odd to me. I know several retired LEO’s and NONE of them listen to a scanner or show up on a scene. Once they retire, they retire. Sounds like this guy is a bit “squirrely”.
This looks like it was a tragic chain of events. As soon as I saw the story I figured something bizarre must have happened. The initial report was that the cop was shot while the police were trying to apprehend the loony-tune with the knife, and I immediately pictured some kind of Keystone Kops scenario where the cops were all surrounding the guy in a circle and one of them opened fire.
If this account is even vaguely accurate, this was nothing but straight-up murder by Gentile.
This part was in Newsday,the local liberal rag.
What a waste! That retired cop should think about this every day of the rest of his miserable, nosy life! I wonder if the dead officer tried to identify himself? Tragic.....
Even with the moron yelling “GUN” they still had no reason to shoot him. What if he really had been a civilian with a rifle slung over his shoulder? Since when is that enough cause to shoot?
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