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Witnesses Say Cop Who Shot Cop ID'd Himself, Slain Cop's Wake Today
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 2, 2009
Modified Jun 2, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 2, 2009
Modified Jun 2, 2009
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that three witnesses heard the officer who fatally shot an armed, plainclothes off-duty officer In Harlem Thursday night identify himself as NYPD. Those three witnesses include the two other cops who arrived on the scene with officer Andrew who fired and the car break-in suspect that slain Officer Omar Edwards was chasing, Migueal Goitia. According to the Post, Goitia [earlier identified with the last name alias "Santiago"] has been hospitalized several times for unknown reasons since his arrest.
Investigators have been interviewing 26 civilian witnesses, transcripts of two 911 calls from civilians, and surveillance footage—it's unclear if the NYPD has surveillance footage depicting the shooting, but a group of Baptist ministers from the Baptist Ministers Conference are calling for the release of any surveillance video from that night. A wake for Edwards will be held today from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Woodward Funeral Home at 1 Troy Ave. in Brooklyn. His funeral will be Thursday at the Church of Our Lady of Victory at 583 Throop Ave. in Brooklyn, at a time to be determined.
Meanwhile, the NYPD has revised a training video instructing officers on how to handle "cop-on-cop" confrontations; the video is intended to reinforce departmental procedures for plainclothes officers at a crime scene. According to the NYPD Patrol Guide, if an off-duty officer is trying to make an arrest and is confronted by an on-duty officer, the off-duty officer must abandon the arrest effort and comply with the on-duty officer's orders.
An NYPD spokesman tells the Times that Officer Dunton yelled at Officer Edwards, "Police! Stop, drop the gun, drop the gun." But when Officer Edwards turned, the nose of his silver Smith & Wesson pistol "turned with him, toward Officer Dunton." Dunton fired six rounds, and the autopsy concluded that the fatal bullet actually entered the left side of his back before hitting his heart and left lung, but the NY Times reported on Sunday, "Investigators say they believe that the officer had turned, gun in hand, toward Officer Dunton after Officer Dunton yelled, 'Stop, police!' and that he may have been hit in the front first and then spun around by the force of the bullet."
Tagged
andrew dunton
cop
fatal
harlem
investigation
nypd
omar edwards
shot
witnesses
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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