Results tagged “coponcopshooting”

Two potential witnesses who took cellphone video in the moments following last month's fatal cop-on-cop shooting in Harlem were told to leave by an officer at the crime scene, WABC reports. The two men, who showed the video to reporters but requested anonymity, say they were in a vehicle at a stoplight where Officer Omar Edwards chased the man who broke into his car. They didn't see the shooting because their view was blocked by another vehicle, but they heard the gunshots.

Yesterday, Governor Paterson announced that he will convene a state panel to investigate the "friendly fire" shooting that left an off-duty police officer dead after being fired upon by another cop. Paterson said, "We don't want to see this happen to any police officer of any color ever again. We want to try to put in protocols that prevent the shooting of police officers on or off duty who are trying to apprehend criminals."

       

Yesterday, police officer Omar Edwards was honored with an "inspectors funeral" at Our Lady of Victory Church in Brooklyn. Thousands attended the funeral for the 25-year-old, who was fatally shot by a fellow officer last week. Mayor Bloomberg gave one of the eulogies, noting how only 18 months ago Edwards was made a cop at a ceremony at Madison Square Garden, "Today, we gather again, this time to praise the gallant spirit of that dynamic, young police officer, and also to pray for him as he makes life's final journey. So to the family, friends, neighbors and fellow officers of Omar Edwards, let me express the deepest condolences of 8.4 million New Yorkers." He added, "I promise you all that we’ll do everything possible to learn from this awful tragedy."

Today, the funeral of Omar Edwards, the off-duty police officer who was fatally shot by a fellow officer a week ago in Harlem, will take place at Our Lady of Victory Church on Throop Avenue in Brooklyn. Edwards is being given an "Inspector's Funeral," and will be posthumously promoted to detective first-grade. The Daily News explains the promotion will allow Edwards's widow and two young children to "collect death benefits based on a higher salary. Edwards' salary was $41,965 as a police officer. His benefits will be calculated based on a detective's pay of $104,081."

Yesterday, Danielle Edwards, widow of the off-duty cop Omar Edwards who was killed in a police "friendly fire" incident last week, was among the hundreds of mourners at the Woodward Funeral Home for her husband's wake. The Daily News said she sat in the third row with her two young sons, "the grief of lost love [was] etched on her face," and the NY Times noticed how "two drawings from his toddler son — jagged scribbles on plain white paper — were clipped together and placed on the satiny white interior of the casket, near a gold plaque that read 'Omar J. Edwards, 1984-2009.'" Leonid Timoshenko, whose police officer son Russel was killed during a 2007 traffic stop, paid his respects, telling the Post, "We're united in pain." Today is the second day of Omar Edwards' wake; tomorrow is the funeral at Our Lady of Victory Church on Throop Avenue in Brooklyn. He will be buried in East Farmingdale.

The NYPD Football Team won its game, 18-9, over the FDNY's "Bravest" team yesterday. The Fun City Bowl matchup, which took place at Hofstra, was marked with sadness, as the NYPD team's was thinking about teammate and colleague Omar Edwards, who was fatally shot while off-duty in Harlem by another cop last Thursday. The NYPD Finest players wore Edwards' number and initials on their helmet; Seventh Precinct Sgt. Dave Reilly also shaved "RIP Omar" in his hair. He told Newsday, "It felt good to win this one for Omar. He was the nicest guy in the world." Officer Joel Sussman, who worked with Edwards as a housing officer, told the Post Edwards, who was 25, had opted out of playing this season because he wanted to spend more time with his wife and two young children, adding, "If this didn't happen, he'd be here rooting us on." Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was also present for part of the game, "Obviously, [the players] very devastated. It's very difficult for all of them. ... This is obviously a very emotional experience."

Yesterday, about 250 people marched in Harlem during a rally for Omar Edwards, the off-duty police officer who was fatally shot in Harlem by a fellow cop. Edwards, who was black, had been pursuing a man suspected of breaking into his car with his gun drawn; his shooter, police officer Andrew Dunton, was white. According to the Reverend Al Sharpton said, "We're not here to play the race card. We're trying to stop the card from being played on black law enforcement."

At today's rally for Omar Edwards, the off-duty police officer who was killed by another cop in East Harlem, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) was asked if he had advice to give President Obama, who is visiting NYC this evening. The Daily News reports that Rangel delivered a "snide" answer, "Make certain he doesn't run around in East Harlem unidentified." Edwards, who was black, had been chasing a man suspected of breaking into his car; he was out of uniform with his gun drawn when he was fatally shot by a white officer. Rangel, who wants a federal investigation of the shooting, also said, "If you become an officer and you have a pistol and you are of color, in or out of uniform, your chances of getting shot down by a police officer are a lot heavier than if you were not of color." Photo: jschumacher on Flickr

The family of Omar Edwards, the rookie off-duty police officer who was shot by a fellow cop in Harlem on Thursday night, were grieving yesterday. A family friend told the Daily News that Edwards' mother said, "My son is dead, my son is dead. They killed my son." The friend also said Edwards' wife Danielle is "in pieces right now....For the sake of the kids, the family is trying to remain strong." The Reverend Al Sharpton, who has already called for a federal investigation of the shooting, is holding a vigil and rally in Harlem this morning.

The off-duty police officer who was fatally shot by police in Harlem last night as he chased a burglar with his gun drawn died from a gunshot wound from the chest. But a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner says that though the fatal bullet was recovered from the front of Officer Omar Edwards's chest, the bullet actually entered the left side of his back before hitting his heart and left lung. Another bullet struck his left arm, and a third hit his left hip. The NYPD is still withholding the name of the white cop who fired on Edwards and is conducting an investigation to determine whether officers identified themselves. But Rev. Al Sharpton wants a federal investigation; speaking to 1010WINS, he says sees "a growing pattern of black officers being killed with the assumption that they are the criminals." On that note, City Room takes a compelling look back at the many incidents of white cops shooting black cops over the years, including one such report from 1940 with the antiquated yet eerie headline "Patrolman Slain by Fellow-Police: Negro, Off-Duty and Chasing a Burglar, Felled by Shots of Men from Radio Car."

       

A white cop fatally shot a black off-duty officer in plainclothes who was chasing a robbery suspect in East Harlem last night. The victim, a recently married father of a 1-year-old and 7-month-old from Brooklyn named Omar Edwards, had been an NYPD officer for two years and patrolled housing projects as part of the Housing Bureau Impact Response Team. Police sources say that when Edwards left duty and went to his car around 10:30 p.m., he found his driver's side window broken and a man inside searching for valuables. According to the Post, he called 911 before confronting the thief.