It’s been more than two years since Nassau County Police Officer Anthony DiLeonardo put two bullets into Huntington, New York, cabbie Thomas Moroughan, and he, together with his drinking buddy and fellow cop, Edward Bienz, are still on the job. The fact that anybody would even think about them outrages Nassau County PBA president James Carver, who
will seek “the strictest of sanctions” against whoever allowed a confidential Nassau police Internal Affairs report detailing an off-duty cop’s shooting of an unarmed cabdriver to remain in a federal court file.What’s not egregious is what DiLeonardo did, or how Nassau County and Suffolk County cops covered it up. Because, you know, that’s what brothers do for their own. Via Newsday :
“This is egregious,” he said in an interview. “How do you undo something that’s already been out there? This is something we take very seriously.”
On Feb. 27, 2011, according to a confidential Nassau County police internal affairs report obtained by Newsday, Officer Anthony DiLeonardo, off duty and drunk, shot at cabdriver Thomas Moroughan five times, hitting him twice, then beat the man with the butt of his gun. DiLeonardo had been barhopping in Huntington with his girlfriend, fellow Officer Edward Bienz and Bienz’s wife. Moroughan, who was driving a Prius cab with his girlfriend in the passenger seat, had gotten into a roadside verbal dispute with DiLeonardo.The cop was loaded. The gun was loaded. It was a bad mix.
DiLeonardo’s explanation for firing at Moroughan, which his companions backed up, was that he feared for his life because the cabbie revved his engine, then tried to run him down.Priuses are great cars, but there is one thing you can’t do in a Prius. Rev the engine.
Within 12 hours of the shooting, Nassau County’s Deadly Force Response Team cleared DiLeonardo of wrongdoing and said he and Bienz had been “fit for duty,” not mentioning that they were intoxicatedPerhaps being intoxicated doesn’t impact fitness for duty in Nassau County? If so, that would have to go for Suffolk County cops too, as this happened in their neighborhood. But it’s not that the Suffolk cops had a lot of time on their hands to investigate, as they immediately went after the perp to get a confession.
Nor has any action been taken against the Suffolk County police officers that night who allegedly fabricated a confession and got a hospitalized Moroughan — drugged with morphine and carrying two bullets in his body — to sign itBlue must be true, and all that. But Moroughan had one bit of luck, his “highly regarded godmother, Suffolk Police Department Deputy Commissioner Risco Mention-Lewis, who agrees he was denied an attorney and railroaded into a confession of crimes he did not commit, had to have helped spur a response to his allegations.” The charges against Moroughan (come on, you knew he had to be charged with revving the Prius’ engine in DiLeonardo’s direction, right?) were dropped, but he decided not to testify against the guy who pumped two bullets into his body.
As all of this was revealed by Newsday. It gave rise to an editorial asking why “DiLeonardo and Bienz still wearing badges” and why nothing has been done with any of the cops, Nassau or Suffolk, who were part of the conspiracy to cover up DiLeonardo’s shooting of Moroughan.
And the culture of the cops must change. Protecting each other from the truth and its consequences is not noble. It’s a dereliction of duty.To say the least. But part of the answer to Newsday’s questions can be found in the opening and closing sentences of its own editorial, which is delightfully known as the “required police caveat.” It begins:
Police officials and union representatives often say the bad apples are a tiny percentage of any force, and they’re right: The majority of cops are good people trying to do a tough job honorably.And it ends:
Most police officers are good, it’s true. But no law, custom or culture ought to protect the ones who aren’t.
So the myth survives, even in a case where everything screams that it’s a lie. A few bad apples don’t give rise to a culture that protects loaded cops. Most police officers tell lies, and while they may well be “good people trying to do a tough job honorably” some of the time, it’s the times when they don’t, when they shoot people, when they lie about it, when they cover it up, that compels me to wonder why Newsday remains complicit in perpetuating this diseased culture and the caveat that enables the myth to survive.
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Nice post, but your spellchecker changed the main officer’s name repeatedly.
What a mess. Thanks for letting me know. All corrected now.
Incidents of this type only serve to further drive a wedge between the citizenry and the police. There is a very pervasive us vs. them attitude in both Nassau and Suffolk County police officers on Long Island.
The rift is widened by the relative safety of the job and the obscene salaries police make in those jurisdictions. To whit:
1. The average Nassau Police officer earns $108,608 in base salary after 5 years on the job. NYPD, for comparison is $76,488 after 5 1/2 years. That doesn’t tell the whole story. Overtime is at absurd levels. A Suffolk Sheriff’s Deputy, Glen Rahner earned $120,166 in overtime in addition to his $ 90,862 base salary. 70% of SCPD officers earn over $100K, 55% of NCPD, do as well. They are able to retire after 20 years of “service” amounting to 50% of the average of their last 2 or 3 years, where they make a point of earning as much OT and shift differential pay. They also receive health coverage for life.
2. A dangerous job? You be the judge. Twenty SCPD officers have been killed in the line of duty, the first in 1960. Of those:
-5 “vehicular assaults”
-5 “motor vehicle accidents”
-1 “fall” (fell from roof, unexplained)
-3 “heart attacks”
-1 “exposure to toxins” due to carbon monoxide from a police cruiser left running in a police radio shop
-1 “Bomb” Unsolved, but believed to be committed by another police officer in a “love triangle”
-4 involved gunfire, but it’s more interesting than it appears. One P.O. was killed by an NYPD officer involved in a domestic disturbance, One when the PO was off-duty and found himself in a restaurant robbery, One “accidental” shooting by another PO on a call and one legitimate “killed by bad-guy”
Not to be rude, but the greatest hazard appears to be their own conduct.
The icing on the cake is PO Marilyn Loos, who reporting to a call, was beaten and had her firearm taken from her and was then shot with it. She survived and actually received a medal & promotion for “bravery”.
Meanwhile, a HS classmate of mine, Michael Argenio, was killed by an off- duty NYPD officer gave chase after Argenio was seen allegedly driving drunk and intentionally striking garbage cans. The officer took chase, managed to stop Mr. Argenio in the next town and during an alleged struggle “accidentally” discharged a revolver TWICE (sorry), the second striking him in the head, killing him instantly. Anyone who knows firearms is aware that a revolver is far more difficult to discharge accidentally. Giving the officer the extreme benefit of the doubt that the hammer was back on the first shot, putting it in the easier to discharge single-action mode, the fatal bullet had to come from double action mode which requires a deliberate attempt to fire. Yes, driving drunk& hitting garbage cans is stupid, immature and dangerous, but giving chase, while off-duty, and recklessly discharging his weapon twice defies belief. No surprise that no disciplinary action was taken.
People wonder why I don’t care
Around here, it’s appreciated if comments focus on the subject of the post rather than tangents of interest to a particular commenter.
Then please accept my sincerely apologies on what you perceived as a tangent. I probably didn’t explain my point of view well enough, but I am not an attorney.
The point I was trying to make is that the type of incident in the original post is not unique. With a PBA strongly backed by the present County Executive, it’s not a surprise to those of us who live here to not be surprised by such events, albeit typically not as significant as the one the OP mentions.
I thought it relevant that there is a rift between the police and the people they’re sworn to protect. I was merely making some points about the department in general and the reasons that many ordinary folks mistrust the oversight process. I thought it added some perspective. If I failed to make my point clearly, the error is mine. Sorry.
No need to apologize. The problem is that there are always more examples of the same, and many will appear in separate posts here from time to time. I try to deal with each individually rather than devolve into the same discussion of anger over misconduct that tends to permeate all of these incidents.
And by the way, the union has enjoyed the support of the County Executives every since Gene Nickerson left office, with the possible exception of Tom Suozzi on a bad hair day. Nothing new there.
I can see your point, and yes, there can be too many similar instances that you would become inundated and never get to make your original point.
The new Suffolk County Executive shares the same last name as I, and it is not a common name. Ironically, my brother shares his first name as well. I get asked if I am related to ***** ******* all the time. Depending on whether I like the person, feel like pulling their leg or my general mood, I often state, “yes, he’s my brother”. The reactions are amusing, depending on political affiliation. I never lie if they ask me if I am related to the County Executive and then his name, but if they just ask his name, it is both true and amusing.