NYPD officer charged with threatening man with gun

Newsday by ZACHARY R. DOWDY - June 6, 2008

A New York City police officer was arrested on a menacing charge Friday, several hours after he barreled through a security checkpoint at Hofstra University while off duty and pointed his service pistol at a man who had accompanied his former girlfriend to a Manhattan nightclub, Nassau police said. Fahad R. Chaudhry, 25, of the Bronx, faces a menacing charge in connection with an incident that began about 3:30 a.m. Friday at Sounds of Brazil and ended in a Hofstra dorm parking lot, where Chaudhry pointed the 9-mm Glock at a 23-year-old man with Chaudhry's ex-girlfriend, a Hofstra student, said Nassau police spokesman Anthony Repalone. Hofstra police responded to the scene and defused the crisis, Repalone said. No one was hurt. Nassau police charged Chaudhry with second-degree menacing, Repalone said. Chaudhry, a three-year veteran assigned to the 40th Precinct in the Bronx, was suspended without pay for 30 days. His attorney, Jeff Groder, of Mineola, declined to comment Friday.

Repalone said the incident began when Chaudhry bumped into his ex-girlfriend and the alleged victim at the nightclub. Soon after the alleged victim arrived on the Hofstra campus, Chaudhry drove past the security booth and headed for his former girlfriend's dormitory, prompting campus security to respond, Repalone said. Chaudhry got out of the car and pointed his gun at the 23-year-old, who pushed it away, Repalone said. A spokesman for Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice said Chaudhry was arraigned before District Court Judge David Goodselland released on his own recognizance. Spokesman Eric Phillips said Goodsell granted orders of protection for the man and Chaudhry's ex-girlfriend. He is due in court June 15. zachary.dowdy@newsday.com - lidesk@newsday.com