Long Beach is seen in a recent file image.

Long Beach is seen in a recent file image. Credit: Jeff Bachner

An off-duty NYPD cop — whose restricted status after being arrested last year for using a chokehold bars him from possessing firearms — faces a weapons charge after he fired a loaded pistol into the Atlantic Ocean in Long Beach, police said.

The off-duty officer, identified as David Afanador, 39, then handed the gun to Jennifer Sonnick, 36, police said, and she shot into the ocean as well. Both were charged with violating state law regulating firearm possession in connection with the Sunday morning incident.

Long Beach police responded to the location, Ocean Beach Park and Franklin Park Boulevard, on Sunday at 6:50 a.m. Four people were seen in a group and police determined that the two had fired the weapon, and that the off-duty NYPD cop had a loaded pistol and loaded magazines.

Neither could be reached for comment. Court information for both was not immediately available Monday.

A spokesman with the NYPD who spoke on condition of anonymity said Afanador has been suspended without pay. The spokesman said Afanador had been on modified assignment after being arrested in June for using a banned chokehold in an incident in the Rockaways that was caught on video.

The same officer was also acquitted in 2016 of pistol whipping a teen and breaking two of his teeth, The Associated Press reported.

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