Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Pennsylvania cop was offered a free sandwich as a reward to arrest Luigi Mangione
By
Walter Wuthmann
Published Dec 2, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Photo by Michael M. Santiago / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
By
Walter Wuthmann
Published Dec 2, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
When an Altoona, Pennsylvania police officer texted his supervisor to say he was responding to a tip that the suspect in a nationwide manhunt was sitting in a local McDonald's, the supervisor was incredulous.
“If you get the New York City shooter I’ll buy you a hoagie,” Officer Joseph Detwiler recalled his superior saying.
Detwiler didn’t say if he ever got the free sandwich. But he did make the arrest.
He testified Tuesday at multiday hearings in New York state court. Mangione’s defense attorneys say Altoona police did not read Mangione his Miranda rights or obtain a proper warrant before they started interrogating him and searched his backpack. The attorneys are moving to suppress evidence before trial.
Mangione faces state and federal murder charges, and is accused of shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Midtown hotel last year.
Detwiler testified that when he and his partner approached Mangione in the back of the fast food restaurant and asked him to pull down his mask, “I knew it was him immediately.”
“I watch a lot of Fox News,” Detwiler told prosecutors. He’d said he'd seen photos of the murder suspect’s face shared by the NYPD “many, many times.”
On Tuesday, people in the courtroom for the first time saw body camera footage from Mangione’s arrest last December. The video shows Detwiler and his partner entering the McDonald’s and locating Mangione in the back. Christmas carols play in the background as the two begin to question him.
When they ask Mangione why he’s in Altoona, he responds that he’s homeless. He mainly avoids answering their questions, eating bites of his hashbrowns and breakfast sandwich in the pauses. Detwiler can be heard whistling along to “Jingle Bell Rock.”
The video shows Mangione giving officers an ID listing his name as Mark Rosario — an ID that would turn out to be fake. The officers tell Mangione he’s under police investigation about 15 minutes after approaching him, according to video footage, and read him his Miranda rights a few minutes later.
Officers arrested Mangione at the McDonald’s for forgery and giving a false ID.
In pre-trial motions, Mangione’s attorneys have argued that anything he said before he was read his Miranda rights — notably, that he was homeless and his name was Mark Rosario — should be barred from trial.
Defense attorneys are also seeking to strike evidence found in the backpack, including a handgun, silencer, hand-written notebook and several electronic storage devices. More Altoona police officers are expected to testify in the coming days as to why they decided to search the backpack on scene before seeking a written warrant.
Manhattan Judge Gregory Carro will ultimately decide what evidence can be included at trial. He has not yet set a trial date.
Tagged
healthcare
manhattan
public safety
Walter Wuthmann
Walter Wuthmann is a reporter covering public safety and the legal system.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Hochul names NY AG James as special prosecutor on alleged rape case at Cornell University
The governor said she does not have faith that the police and the Tompkins County DA effectively investigated the case.
By
Jon Campbell
Published Oct 1, 2026 at 9:04 p.m. ET
Founder of NYC LGBTQ therapy practice charged with rape after alleged sexual assaults
Joseph LoGiudice is the second therapist at Liberation Psychotherapy to be accused of sexually abusing a patient.
By
Giulia Heyward
News
Founder of NYC LGBTQ therapy practice charged with rape after alleged sexual assaults
Joseph LoGiudice is the second therapist at Liberation Psychotherapy to be accused of sexually abusing a patient.
By
Giulia Heyward
US judge in NY indefinitely blocks ICE from making arrests at immigration courthouses
By
Arya Sundaram
Lawyer challenging NYC rent freeze releases Mamdani officials’ emails and text messages
By
David Brand
Push to strengthen NY sexual assault laws gathers steam after Cornell rape allegations
By
Walter Wuthmann
and
Jon Campbell
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .