Drinking while armed is risky
A still photo from a video that shows an off-duty Nassau County police officer pointing a gun at a bartender at South Main Street Pub in Farmingdale in April Credit: News 12 Long Island
Guns and alcohol are a dangerous mix, even if the person armed while intoxicated is an off-duty police officer.
Incidents involving off-duty cops armed and inebriated have been rare on Long Island. But two recent incidents demonstrate the need for a firm, unambiguous policy with clear consequences. The Nassau County Police Department leaves it to individual officers who are armed and off the clock to decide how much alcohol is too much. That's a risky proposition. There should be a bright-line prohibition instead. An officer carrying a gun should not be allowed to drink.
The public often benefits from having off-duty officers armed and ready to take police action should the need arise. But that benefit has to be weighed against the risk of an off-duty cop doing something foolish with a gun while impaired by alcohol. Allowing them to carry, but not while intoxicated, would preserve the benefit while minimizing the risk.
There was evidence that two off-duty Nassau cops had been drinking the night of Feb. 27 when they got into a nonsensical roadside confrontation with a taxi driver in Huntington Station. Words were exchanged and Officer Anthony DiLeonardo allegedly fired at the cabbie, Thomas Moroughan, hitting him in the chest and left arm.
In another incident, Nassau County Police Officer Richard Hefferon allegedly had downed several drinks at a Farmingdale bar April 26 before he was caught on security cameras pointing a loaded pistol at a bartender's head.
The policy of the Nassau County Police Department is that officers may carry a gun while off duty, and they're encouraged to do it. Drinking while armed is not forbidden. The rule is similar in the Suffolk County Police Department, where carrying a gun off duty is optional and drinking while armed also isn't prohibited. Officers are trusted to use common sense about booze and guns, and most do.
New York City police officers are allowed to carry guns while off duty as long as they are not unfit for duty due to intoxication. But if an off-duty NYPD officer fires a gun and injures or kills someone, that officer is automatically subjected to a Breathalyzer test. That's not the case in Nassau and Suffolk, but it should be.
Prosecutors said there was evidence that Officer Anthony DiLeonardo had been drinking before the cabbie was shot. But he and the other officer involved refused to give blood or urine samples, so it's unclear whether either was legally intoxicated. Checking blood-alcohol levels in such instances should be automatic and mandatory.
Judgment is the first casualty of intoxication. That's why police departments should relieve armed, off-duty officers of the responsibility for judging how much alcohol is too much. A clear, black-and-white rule would present officers with a simple option: Drink or carry a gun, but not both.
