A pair of NYPD detectives had been hitting the bottle for several hours before one shot his partner in the wrist last week.
57-year-old Jay Poggi, a department veteran of 31 years, apparently discharged his .38 caliber revolver into his partner, Det. Matthew Sullivan, while the two were pre-gaming for a robbery investigation in Far Rockaway last Friday. Sources told the Daily News that each of the on-duty detectives had put back at least 11 beers in the span of about four hours at Rockaway Park's The Wharf Bar & Grill prior to the incident.
According to Poggi, the two were sitting in an unmarked car when the revolver accidentally fired. But investigators suspect the incident happened outside the car, "possibly with the detectives firing the gun in the air." A full interview by Internal Affairs will clarify some of the evening's many mysteries, but we know what we want to believe.
Poggi has been charged only of driving while intoxicated. Sullivan, 35, has undergone surgery for his injured hand, and it's unclear whether he'll be able to shoot a weapon again.
