Officer Brendan Cronin
Brendan Cronin, an officer for the New York Police Department,
is claiming that he was in an alcohol-induced blackout when he walked up to a car in Pelham, New York and fired 13 shots into it. He hit Joe Felice, an innocent stranger, six times. This was in April of 2014. Seventeen months later, Officer Cronin remains on paid leave. Paid!
The victim and his family are now worried that the officer, who is expected to plead guilty on September 22, will somehow find a way to get off without any jail time—as NYPD officers normally do when they kill folk in New York.
There was anger among the victims that the plea took so long.
“I feel like we have to fight the system every step of the way to get justice that should be so obvious and so forthcoming,” said Felice’s wife, Patricia Scalfani.
The victims never saw Officer Cronin at the scene in Pelham, but surveillance video reportedly shows the officer getting out of his parked car with the victims stopped at the light. Cronin allegedly has his service weapon in his hand in the video, and he allegedly walks up, turns, and empties it into their vehicle.
Keep reading below for the sick explanation given by the officer.
He claims that after a long day of mandatory gun training, his superiors and partners all went and got drunk together. Let's not even bother unpacking the seven layers of wrong in that defense, but it's a mess.
Only in America could an officer walk up to car, unload his weapon, walk away, have the whole thing on film, and receive a paid 17-month vacation.
Hear more from the victim below.