Cop Indicted For Covering Up Husband's Cop Shooting

Police officer Jacqueline Melendez Rivera was indicted on two charges related to the February 10 shooting of fellow cop Andrew Suarez. The shooter was Melendez Rivera's husband, Jose Rivera, who shot at Suarez and other undercover officers in an unmarked car while driving in Park Slope. (Suarez was shot in the arm.)

Hours later, Melendez Rivera was found by police investigating the shooting, parking Rivera's SUV over a mile away from her Prospect Heights home. Melendez Rivera denied knowing that the car was involved in a shooting, despite the bullet holes, and that someone was injured. She later apologized and her lawyer said that her marriage was "pretty much kaput."

Melendez Rivera was charged with evidence tampering and official misconduct. She did avoid charges of obstruction of government administration and hindering prosecution. She is currently out on $50,000 bail and has been suspended by the NYPD. Melendez Rivera is also 7 months pregnant.

And Rivera was arraigned on charges of attempted murder and assault. Rivera, who was denied bail, is being held at a Westchester jail because Suarez's father is a captain with the city's Corrections Department.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on April 5, 2007 8:04 AM

Comments [rss]

horst bucholtz

For God's sake...Officer Rivera said she was sorry !!!!!!!!

drewo

Gothamist readers, you get what you pay for. The price is okay by me.

Next time some politician or NYPD brass start to blather on about how the NYPD has the "best and the brightest", be reminded that there are always some bad apples among the Big Apple's "finest" - such as Officer Melendez Rivera.

pot kettle

"dont criticize her typo's"

Uh, yeah, OK. Credible source...

duh

who needs copyeditors when you've got such obnoxious readers to point out the errors?

dont criticize

dont criticize her typo's or you'll be banned for life as I am

Jimmy Legs

i'm still confused about the shooting, does anybody understand why the guy shot the other guy? that's what i'd like to hear about.

Jen Chung

Thanks for all your comments and feedback. Feel free to email me directly, because after this comment, I'd like the thread to be about the indictment, shooting, etc.

You can reach me at jen(at)gothamist(dot)com

dead inside

I wish I was still so idealistic that I thought Gothamist might actually consider proofreading.

strangeluck

jen, i can only imagine that the reason for all these errors is because you insist on typing your articles directly into the browser window rather than copying and pasting from a word processor. should you insist on continuing this trend i suggest you upgrade to one of the newer versions of firefox or mozilla which both feature built in spell checking. that little red underline that appears beneath a word typically means you made a mistake.

a

i give up

hobgoblin

and this madness all happened in park slope jen, shooter/spouse are from st. marks on the south side of flatbush.

anomalous

I hope all of you put this much passion and energy toward real life issues!

grammar

I think you are all mistaken. Jen went to Columbia University, duh.

strangeluck

The shoower was Melendez Rivera's husband

shoo typo!

Rivera was found by police investigating the shooting parking Rivera's SUV over a mile away

commas are our friends.

And Rivera was arraigned on charges of attempted murder and assault.

did you seriously think this was a good sentence?

badam

this post is one or two typos away from being completely illegible. keep up the good work gothamist.

Bob

Even better:

"She later apologized and her _layer_ said that her marriage was 'pretty much kaput.'"

Well yeah, if her "layer" and her husband are two different people, I think her marriage is pretty much kaput.