Report: Accused cop-killer admits shooting

Accused cop killer Lamont Pride admits in a videotaped interview to shooting to death an NYPD officer from Long Island because he "panicked" during the December robbery of a drug den, according to NBC New York.

In a taped interview with police hours after the shooting of Det. Peter Figoski, 47, of West Babylon, Pride said his gun went off by accident.

"I was so nervous and I panicked," he said.

NBC New York, which did not say how it acquired the video, posted the three-part interview of Pride, 27, of North Carolina, on its website.

The interviews were conducted by police and prosecutors on Dec. 12, hours after authorities said Pride and four other men tried to rob a drug den in East New York, Brooklyn.

Pride has since pleaded not guilty. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 19.

In the interviews, Pride tells different versions of the event. He says he wants to give his version to "help himself" with the court.

"I decided to just come forward with everything because I need to help myself out of this situation," he said in the interview. "I know I'm not going to get out of it. I know I'm going to do some type of time. I'm not trying to do the max. I want to come forward and clean and honest so that way, when the time do come, I can get some type of leniency."

Pride said on one recording he was only trying to buy drugs when other gunmen burst into the basement apartment. Later, he admitted to bringing the murder weapon to rob drug dealers.

"We went over there . . . but not everything went according to plan," he said.

Patrick Lynch, president of the New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, reacted to the videotape by calling Pride a "despicable thug" who "shows no remorse or concern for anyone but himself."

"This cold-blooded cop-killer tells two entirely different stories in an attempt to worm his way out of spending the rest of his life in prison," Lynch said Thursday in a statement. "The truth is much more likely to be that while committing a crime, he saw a police officer and shot him in cold blood simply to get away."

Lynch said his union "will do everything in its power to see that he is convicted and put away for life without parole."

Prosecutors and police have declined to comment.

In court filings released in January, Pride allegedly told police that he was "sorry" for Figoski's shooting.

"I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't want to kill a cop. It went wrong and I'm sorry. I can't take it back," he said in the court papers.

Figoski and other officers were responding to a 911 call, and Figoski confronted Pride as the accused shooter was leaving the basement apartment, according to police accounts of the shooting.

In another part of the videotaped interview at the 75th Precinct, Pride re-enacted the shooting scene.

He claims that he tripped, got up and then as he tried to run past Figoski, he accidentally pulled the trigger.

"I look up to clutch my hands to run . . . he is coming and I'm going . . . so it was like 'boom.' "

Pride provides details of how he ran from the scene after the shooting, how he attempted to ditch the gun by throwing it under a parked car, and then was caught by another officer.

"I was running scared," Pride said.