Lengthy Island cops ripped Gov. Kathy Hochul for bragging about bringing down gun violence hours earlier than an officer was shot within the face by a deranged murder suspect on Thursday.
An unidentified 33-year-old county police officer was shot within the face whereas authorities executed a search warrant at a North Bay Shore house on Thursday, officers mentioned. — sooner or later after the governor held an occasion on the island to tout anti-crime initiatives.
“The irony isn’t misplaced on us that the governor was simply on Lengthy Island yesterday saying that crime goes down and immediately we now have a Suffolk County Police Officer shot,” Suffolk PBA President Lou Civello informed The Put up.
“We’ve been coping with this now for years, and every time a brand new band-aid will get utilized, we discover one other circumstance that they missed,” Civello mentioned.
The police union head mentioned he appreciates that Albany below Hochul has authorized adjustments to prison bail and discovery legal guidelines after they’d been considerably loosened in 2018 below then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. These lax insurance policies had been criticized for permitting violent criminals to stroll free and doubtlessly reoffend.
However Civello mentioned Hochul must push for extra.
“We’re appreciative that she’s offering funding right here. We’re appreciative that she is making an attempt to make some tweaks to the legal guidelines and there’s been some optimistic motion, but it surely actually simply doesn’t go far sufficient,” he mentioned.
Hochul held an occasion on the Suffolk County Police Academy Wednesday, cheering a 24% drop in murders on Lengthy Island from 2023 to 2024 and 40% between 2021 and 2024.
“I do know greater than anybody, our work is all the time removed from executed in terms of defending individuals as a result of one crime, one capturing, one homicide is one too many,” Hochul mentioned.
The governor did acknowledge that there’s been a slight uptick in murders in Suffolk County particularly, however mentioned “statistically it doesn’t matter as a result of it’s going from 14 to 16.”
The identify of the officer who was shot Thursday had not been launched, however Catalina mentioned he’s a Navy vet and is married with three youngsters.
“This officer’s wound was actually a half inch away from his eye. It was up on his cheek. It fractured his cheekbone, and it was lodged beneath his ear,” Dr. James Vosswinkel of Stony Brook College Medical Middle mentioned.
The surgeon mentioned the bullet was half an inch from killing the officer, who is anticipated to make a “full and full restoration,”Vosswinkel mentioned.
Cops had been executing the search warrant in North Bay Shore for Nieves Reyes, 48, who’s accused of stabbing to dying his coworker, 66-year-old Eugene Allen. Reyes was in custody of Suffolk police Thursday evening, and had been slapped with homicide and tried homicide fees, cops mentioned.
The PBA is asking out Hochul simply because the Democratic governor is heading into reelection mode. Help of cops will possible play a significant function as Hochul tries to make the case that she’s improved public security after getting repeatedly slammed over crime throughout her first run in 2022.
