Woman: I fired gun after prankster threat

A Rockville Centre woman told police she fired her 9-mm handgun to scare a teenager threatening her family, according to court records. But the cops say she went after an innocent young man.

Bernadette Greenwald, 46, a former Bronx prosecutor, was arrested on misdemeanor charges of menacing, reckless endangerment and prohibited use of a dangerous weapon, the district attorney's office said.

Police said Greenwald fired her gun after someone rang the doorbell at her Forest Avenue home three times at about 11 p.m. Sunday, running away each time.

Greenwald told police that after the third ring, the teen entered her house and threatened her and her children.

Police rejected that account, saying Greenwald instead got her gun and went outside after the third ring.

"At some point she lets a round go off in front of the house," said Officer Christopher Barling, a Nassau police spokesman. "A couple of minutes later, she sees a 17-year-old young man walking down the street and she points the gun at him, and holds him at gunpoint until police arrive."

Police determined that the teenager she apprehended had nothing to do with the prank, Barling said. They released him and arrested her, seizing her Taurus 9-mm handgun and later suspending her target license.

Greenwald was released without bail after her arraignment Monday in First District Court in Hempstead.

According to court records, Greenwald told police that she fired the pink handgun because the young man "thought it was a Barbie gun. I wanted to show him it was loaded."

She told police: "That kid laughed because it was a pink gun, but he didn't laugh after I fired it. I knew that I wasn't going to hit anyone."

In her statement, Greenwald said her husband, identified in court papers as Stuart Greenwald, returned home while the youngster was in the house and wrestled him to the ground.

Attorney Mitchell Barnett, who represents Bernadette Greenwald, said he hadn't spoken to her but received a version of the events from her husband.

"It's 11 at night. Someone keeps ringing the doorbell. She was home alone with two kids," Barnett said. "From her days as a criminal lawyer, she knows that's one way to see if anyone's home to do burglaries. She's freaking out."

Greenwald is listed on the state's registry of attorneys as Bernadette Nicchia, her maiden name. The Bronx district attorney's office said she was an assistant district attorney there from August 1989 to March 1994.

Greenwald did not return telephone calls Tuesday to her home and office.

With Kery Murakami