Undercover Cop Kills Man Who Interfered With Friend's Drug Bust

(Courtesy ABC 7)

A 43-year-old man was fatally shot in the abdomen yesterday in Inwood by an undercover plainclothes detective during a drug bust—and the man's son says it was a tragic misunderstanding. According to police, an unidentified detective tried to arrest a 23-year-old man selling drugs at 26 Post Avenue by Dyckman Street shortly after 5 p.m. Somehow John Collado, Sr., the shooting victim, got involved. NYPD sources tell ABC 7 Collado was part of the drug deal, but his son tells DNAinfo he just happened to be walking by, saw his friend getting assaulted, and tried to help.

"My dad's not a moron," John Collado, Jr., 21, says. "If [the officer] would have identified himself as a cop, my dad would have stopped." Collado reportedly had the officer in a chokehold and during the struggle he was shot. Speaking to NY1, his son said, "He got shot in the stomach, trying to stop an unidentified cop in a scuffle with a civilian, a kid I grew up with, my dad's neighbor. He went to break it up, the cops shot him in the stomach, and he's in trauma. They won't let me know anything that's going on."

Collado was taken to Harlem Hospital and was initially listed in stable condition, but the NY Post reports that he died early this morning. The 23-year-old ran off, but was later spotted on the roof of a nearby building and was arrested when he emerged (he was then taken to New York-Presbyterian Medical Center with a cut on his head). NY1 reports that the detective was also taken to New York-Presbyterian Medical Center (awkward!) with neck and shoulder injuries.

They NYPD maintains that the officer identified himself. And Luz Derne Bermudez, vice president of the 34th Precinct Community Council, didn't witness the shooting, but she doesn't buy his son's story. "I don't believe it," she tells the Daily News. "That area is infested with drugs. We need more police walking up there."

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

By John Del Signore in News on September 7, 2011 10:15 AM

Comments [rss]

knowa1

Prohibition creates Jobs for the police and prisons. Legalization creates many more green jobs, but for the people.

malcolmkyle

It was obviously a 'shake down' by a single rogue cop needing a 'free stash'.

The United States re-legalized certain drug use in 1933. The drug was alcohol, and the 21st amendment re-legalized its production, distribution and sale. Both alcohol consumption and violent crime dropped immediately as a result, and, very soon after, the American economy climbed out of that same prohibition engendered abyss into which it had previously been pushed.

AlexTheOriginalPartyDog

cool story.

RammyH

The lone cop making a bust is fishy.

Situations like this remind me of a Dorismond situation - some Regular Schmo minding his business attracts the attention of an undercover and the cop approaches/harasses.

Because the undercover has taken extraordinary measures to look and act as "un-cop" like as possible, Regular Schmo thinks he about to be jacked by a scumbag.

Regular Schmo reacts strongly to approaching/agressive scumbag - shouts/pushes/swings a punch. Undercover takes this an outright assault of a police officer (even though he's out of uniform and there's no badge) and pulls his weapon and shoots Regular Schmo. Undercover then claims to have identified himself prior to shooting.

I'm pretty sure this is what happened more or less a few year ago when an undercover shot that African merchant in the storage warehouse raid. African guy is in his room checking his wares when some hopped up plainclothes officer bursts into the room like gangbusters, gun drawn. African guy understandably jumps/reacts in some way and catches a bullet for his trouble.I believe the victim's son in this case - his old man saw a local getting robbed/harassed by an armed stranger and went to help and got shot. If there was backup, with the shouts of Police and badges showing, this never would've happened.

Jillian

Another victim of the drug war! I bet Nixon didn't think about this when he started it.

YouMadBro

There is no way this officer was on a sting to arrest a drug dealer without a partner. What really happened is he wanted to rob this guy for drugs and money and then use police badge if anything comes up as an excuse.

HJaySimpson

Wait.... is ONE cop trying to arrest TWO men protocol?

randomtransplant

WTF you doing shooting people in the STOMACH. Under cover cops are supposed to be competent.

You can be pretty certain these "drugs" weren't going to go around taking stomach shots at people. Murdering them. A drug dealer resisting arrest is not worth murder.

Emily Caravan

Really?! So, drug dealers don't shoot people, and drugs don't kill?! What planet are you from? How on earth would you know if this drug dealer didn't have a violent history- as they usually do.

Also, the cop now has 2 people to deal with- the one he was trying to arrest, and the other who interfered. Who are you to say he didn't have a reason to fear for his life? Drug dealers are not well known for respecting life and the law.

Maybe the cop isn't a hero, but I don't think defending your life makes you a murderer.

Maik Reddiger

No, drug dealers DO NOT shoot people, else they would be called murderers. And no, drugs DO NOT kill people - it is people who kill people and sometimes the victim is the same as the aggressor. Most people who kill themselves with drugs die because they did not know the concentration(e.g. for heroin), the life-threatening impurities(as lidocaine for cocaine), or even the drug itself (like PMA or mCPP in ecstasy tablets).
We owe this to a government who chose to let cartels control the market rather than controlling it on its own by proper regulation.

If you really cared about the victims of substance abuse, you would not support this failed policy - but I guess that's just beyond your scope.

shocktheday

Collado had the cop in a choke hold, where do you want the officers to shoot him ?

eflash

"where do you want the officer to shoot him?"

and that, right there, is the problem. how about not shoot him at all?

ONE_LESS_FIXED_GEAR

If I'm a cop, and in the course of attempting to put you under arrest I wind up in your chokehold, I'm going to pull my weapon and shoot the sh** out of you. But how it came to that point is definitely a valid question.

Investigate-NWO-globalists

How about we just end this bullshit war on drugs, once & for all???

randomtransplant

If its important enough to devote an armed undercover to, its important enough to have a little backup.

I would cite this very article as my reasoning.

TakeThePledge

Tell that to Bloomberg. More with less... and don't worry about this weekend, must have just been an anomaly.

randomtransplant

I know people usually get stuck on vice for a reason, but come on...how stupid do you think people are?
You arn't defending a cop. Your defending a murder.

FU Boy

Tragic accident, true.

And I thank Bermudez's assessment "That area is infested with drugs. We need more police walking up there."

More cops on the beat, not in squad cars.