Unjustified

An off-duty Nassau County police officer unlawfully shot and beat an unarmed cabdriver in Huntington Station after a night of drinking in 2011, according to an NCPD Internal Affairs Unit report.

The report, obtained by Newsday, found that officer Anthony DiLeonardo recklessly escalated a roadside verbal dispute when he shot at cabdriver Thomas Moroughan five times with a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson, striking him once in the left arm and once in the chest, as the cabdriver’s girlfriend sat beside him in the front passenger seat.

The Internal Affairs Unit report said a doctor who treated DiLeonardo at Huntington Hospital after the Feb. 27, 2011 shooting noted that he was slurring his words, smelled of alcohol and was hostile. However, fellow officers did not perform a sobriety test on DiLeonardo, who refused the doctor’s request for blood and urine tests.

Despite the Internal Affairs investigators finding a year ago that DiLeonardo committed unlawful acts including assault, criminal use of a firearm and driving while ability impaired, he has not been criminally charged and remains a Nassau County police officer.

The Internal Affairs Unit reported its findings on July 31, 2012 to Police Commissioner Thomas Dale. It recommended 19 departmental charges for what it found to be 11 unlawful acts and eight departmental rules violations by DiLeonardo.

The Internal Affairs Unit recommended five departmental charges be brought against Nassau police Officer Edward Bienz, DiLeonardo’s barhopping companion that evening, based on the investigation’s findings of two unlawful acts and three counts of violating department rules.

Both off-duty officers were found to have engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer and were unfit for duty by reason of intoxicants, among other violations of department rules. Like DiLeonardo, Bienz remains a Nassau County police officer.

Click here for the rest of the Newsday story.