NYPD mourns first officer fatally shot on duty in 4 years

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The photographs in the morning media show hundreds of mournful New York Police Department officers, mostly in blue uniforms, lining the hallways to a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday.

Five alleged suspects in the Monday night death of respected NYPD Officer Peter Figoski were in court to face a judge who ordered them held without bail. When the judge denied them bail, the courtroom and hallways, teaming with officers, erupted in applause.

Prosecutors have alleged that Lamont Pride, 27, who has a long record of arrests in New York and North Carolina, was fleeing a drug robbery when he fatally shot Figoski in the face.

The officer, who was 47 and had four daughters, died a few hours later at a local hospital. The other suspects, who were all under arrest within 24 hours of the shooting, were said to be Pride’s accomplices in robbing a man they believed was selling marijuana out of a Brooklyn apartment.

‘They planned to steal any cash and marijuana that he had on hand,’ Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters at a televised news briefing.

Kelly also said Pride, with a record of at least 13 arrests, would have ‘ideally been behind bars and extradited to North Carolina’ following a Nov. 3 arrest in New York.

The five suspects, who are all charged with murder, allegedly had plotted the robbery before heading for the Brooklyn apartment where they pistol-whipped a 25-year-old tenant, stealing $770 and a cheap watch, according to the New York Daily News.

When police arrived, Pride and another suspect allegedly hid in a boiler room. As they tried to escape, they ran into Figoski, according to the account, and Pride is accused of shooting him below the left eye.

Officer Glenn Estrada, Figoski’s longtime partner in the 75th precinct in Brooklyn, arrested Pride after a short chase.

‘Figoski spent his entire professional life assisting the residents of one of the poorest places in New York City,’ Kelly said. ‘He did it with dedication that showed in his record of arrests and medals.’

Figoski was the first officer fatally shot on duty in New York in four years.

His two older daughters, who are attending college in upstate New York, flew to the city to be by his side in a Queens hospital. But by the time they arrived, along with their younger sisters, mother and stepmother, they were told Figoski had died, according to media reports.

The grim faces of Figoski’s fellow officers and their loyalty and respect for him described in the local newspapers Tuesday testify to a 22-year career meritoriously spent on the midnight shift in one of the most violent parts of the city. His colleagues told reporters he made 209 arrests and won 12 medals of commendations.

Apparently Figoski had the seniority to transfer to a cushier job but had decided to stay in the 75th in Brooklyn, to which he transferred in 1990.

John Giangrasso, a police union official in Brooklyn, told News columnist Denis Hamill that Figoski was the smartest cop he’d ever met but that he never wanted promotions.

‘He was a patrol cop, period,’ Giangrasso said. ‘That’s who he was. He liked his partner Glenn Estrada. He liked teaching young cops the street. He liked being that cop who showed up in the middle of the night to help people. He also stayed on the job because his kids were older but still in school. We used to joke, ‘Bigger kids, bigger bills.’’

During Pride’s court appearance, he said nothing. He was wearing handcuffs that Figoski had used on the beat.

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-- Geraldine Baum in New York