NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of police officers cheered Wednesday as a detective wounded in a wild shootout with a child sex abuse suspect was released from a Manhattan hospital.
Detective Mario Muniz left Bellevue Hospital in a wheelchair pushed by his NYPD patrol partner, Joseph Trovato.
Muniz and two U.S. marshals were wounded Monday when they tried to arrest the suspect, Charles Richard Mozdir, in a smoke shop in Greenwich Village. Mozdir was killed in the confrontation. Both the marshals were released from the hospital Tuesday.
Muniz was shot at least twice, in the stomach below his protective vest and in the chest. Police Commissioner William Bratton has said the detective’s protective vest may have saved his life.
Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, speaking outside Bellevue, said that once Muniz goes home to recuperate, “The reality of what could have happened will set in.”
Palladino added, “I’m going to renew my message to all the criminals in this city: It’s not open season on these detectives … because our mission is to get the job done.”
A $1 million bench warrant was issued for Mozdir’s arrest in 2012 after he skipped an arraignment in San Diego Superior Court on child sexual assault charges.
In addition to multiple counts of lewd acts, Mozdir also had been charged with attempting to dissuade a witness from prosecution, the criminal complaint said. He had posted $250,000 bail.
Mozdir’s case had recently been featured on CNN’s “The Hunt with John Walsh.” Mozdir was accused of abusing the boy while baby-sitting him, and authorities later found evidence of child pornography and bestiality on his cellphone and computers, according to the show’s website, quoting federal authorities.
