Investigators examine man's fatal fight with NYPD cops

Friends said that Michael Murphy, a plumber from East Meadow, was looking forward to his 54th birthday because it was going to fall on Oct. 10, 2010 - "10-10-10" - a popular and unique date this year.

His wife, Alane Avallone, said she even had special T-shirts made for the occasion.

But Murphy didn't make it past the age of 53. On April 2, while driving his boss to a subway station, Murphy got into a violent altercation with two off-duty police officers on the Grand Central Parkway. Police said Murphy rammed their car from behind and then threatened the two cops, who were on their way to work, with a baseball bat and struck one of them. A fight followed and Murphy wound up with a fractured skull. He died on April 10, despite surgery to relieve swelling on his brain.

Investigators with the Queens district attorney's office are now looking into the tangled series of events, according to law enforcement officials. The probe centers on the actions of Murphy, a father of two sons from an earlier marriage, and police officers Frankie Solar Jr., and Richard Pimental, said the officials.

A spokesman for the NYPD said both officers are on regular-duty status. An internal affairs bureau investigation found there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the two cops, said the spokesman, Paul Browne. Solar has been on administrative duties since the incident because of injuries he sustained from being hit with a bat, Browne added. The NYPD wouldn't make the cops available for comment.

"The case is under investigation and there are no charges at this time," said a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Devastated by the loss of her spouse, Avallone, 56, filed a lawsuit earlier this month in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn against the city, the NYPD and the two officers, as well as certain unnamed cops involved in the investigation of the incident. The suit for wrongful death, negligence, civil rights violations and other alleged wrongs asks for unspecified damages. The complaint also accuses the city of negligently hiring and employing Solar and Pimental as cops.

"For me, Mike was the love of my life," said Avallone in a telephone interview with Newsday. "I lost that."

Avallone declined to comment about the lawsuit, referring questions to her attorney George Stavropoulos of Brooklyn. Stavropoulos alleges that the police version of events - with Murphy aggressively going after the cops - is contradicted by witnesses his investigator has found.

He also disputes that Murphy rammed the police vehicle since Murphy's car had no damage.