Had no idea that was Shea Davis story about that Incident
Officials Defend Officer In NYC Subway Shooting
TOM HAYSAugust 23, 1994
NEW YORK (AP) _ The gun battle lasted no more than 15 seconds - just time enough for off- duty Officer Peter DelDebbio to aim and shoot the armed man on a crowded subway platform.
It happened so quickly, authorities said, that DelDebbio had no idea the man he critcally wounded was an undercover officer.
On Tuesday, a day after the shooting in which DelDebbio and a civilian also were wounded, police were still trying to piece together the chain of events that had officers firing at one another while commuters dove for cover.
″You had two good cops doing what they’re paid to do: Taking action and not running away,″ Police Commissioner William Bratton said.
DelDebbio was hospitalized in good condition. Officer Desmond Robinson was listed in critical condition with four gunshot wounds, two in the back.
The trouble started with a report to the subway’s transit police that a man was seen with a sawed-off shotgun in the busy mid-Manhattan subway station.
DelDebbio, an off-duty New York City policeman who was taking the subway home - saw him too.
Based on interviews with about 30 witnesses, police gave this account:
As two uniformed transit police officers were arresting 16-year-old Damal Parham for possessing a .22-caliber pistol, the train carrying DelDebbio pulled into the station.
Shea Davis, 17, tried to hide a sawed-off shotgun he was carrying as he walked between the train and the tracks, but it discharged. A 19-year-old bystander, Patricia Coples, was struck in the leg.
DelDebbio, who saw Davis with the shotgun, drew his own revolver.
Almost exactly four years ago, DelDebbio had been mugged on a subway by three men with knives. When they learned he was a police officer, they hit him over the head with his gun, held him down and cut off the tip of his right index finger. After pulling his gun, DelDebbio came face to face with what he thought was another suspect armed with a 9mm pistol. It was Robinson, 31, who had been working undercover as part of a pickpocket patrol and was in plainclothes.
The off-duty officer fired five shots, apparently without identifying himself, and hit Robinson four times. In the confusion, one of the uniformed transit officers also opened fire, hitting DelDebbio in the arm.
The shooting brought back memories of a 1992 incident in which two white uniformed transit officers shot a black undercover officer they mistook for a mugger. Derwin Pannell, whose right arm was was paralyzed, is suing the city for $70 million.
DelDebbio is white and Robinson, like Pannell, is black.
The Grand Council of Guardians, which represents black officers, accused the white officers of assuming Pannell was a mugger because of his race.
The group raised similar concerns Tuesday, but police officials said that wasn’t so, noting that DelDebbio is Puerto Rican.
They said DelDebbio simply didn’t have time to take cover or identify himself as a police officer.
″This thing happened so damn fast,″ Bratton said. ″Boom, boom, boom and it’s going down."https://apnews.com/article/ede878a876877f5313018867f6302c49
