NY MAYOR: 'DRUNK' COP ACTED APPROPRIATELY

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: 'DRUNK' COP ACTED APPROPRIATELY
By DAVID SEIFMAN and CLEMENTE LISI - July 15, 2008

An off-duty detective who stopped a brutal beating by shooting an armed Queens man "took appropriate action" despite flunking a booze test afterwards, Mayor Bloomberg said this morning. The 44-year-old off-duty detective, who has not been identified, was placed on modified duty and stripped of his weapon after the Sunday morning shooting.

"I clearly think the officer did the right thing," said Bloomberg. "Having said that, it is up to [Police Commissioner Ray Kelly]. He will do a thorough investigation and then make a decision." The detective, who works out of Brooklyn South Narcotics, opened fire on Stephon Allston, 22, at about 2 a.m. after the thug fired three bullets with a powerful Tec-9 automatic handgun. Although Allston's bullets missed the detective, the 15-year veteran fired five times, hitting the suspect in the arm and leg. Asked about the shooting this morning, Bloomberg said, "I think the officer acted correctly." The mayor also said the detective "saw something where people's lives were threatened and he took appropriate action to stop that." Under rules adopted by the NYPD last year, the detective was forced to take a Breathalyzer test - and narrowly failed. His blood-alcohol level was .09. The state limit legal is .08.

Kelly adopted the controversial rule after Sean Bell was killed in a hail of 50 police bullets on Nov. 25, 2006, outside a Queens topless bar where undercover cops were suspected of drinking. So far, six detectives and a dozen cops have undergone Breathalyzer tests after firing their weapons, but the detective is the first to fail the breath test and be punished since the new rule has been instituted. Several unions, including the Patrolman's Benevolent Association, have filed federal lawsuits calling the new rule unconstitutional. "The policy is politically-motivated and flawed for many reasons beyond its unconstitutionality," said PBA President Pat Lynch. "Among its problems is that it fails to take real-life police situations into account, it sends a message to off-duty officers not to get involved in crime-fighting and prevention."