An NYC detective shot while serving a search warrant at a suspected drug house is fit to be tied after the convict copped a plea deal to shorten his sentence — by claiming he thought the cops were robbers, union officials said Saturday.
Narcotics Det. Dominick Libretti was shot while protecting his team with his ballistic shield during the predawn raid on Jan. 20, 2022, in New Springville on Staten Island.
Nelson Pizarro, 41, fired through a door at the officers, telling detectives he thought he was being robbed.
Nelson, who was charged with multiple counts of attempted murder of a police officer, assault on a police officer and criminal possession of a weapon, agreed in State Supreme court Monday to plead guilty to a charge of second-degree attempted murder and accept a sentence of 16 years in prison.
The sentence “isn’t enough, considering I almost died,” Libretti said Saturday, according to the union.
Nelson could have faced at least 40 years in jail for trying to kill the five cops in the hallway, a union official said.
The police team had announced itself repeatedly, Libretti told the Detectives Endowment Association.
“We entered the location screaming ‘Police search warrant!’ after the door was rammed in and continued screaming ‘Police search warrant!’” Libretti said, according to a union official.
Libretti maintains Nelson saw him and slammed a bedroom door closed in his face before squeezing off multiple rounds.
“Once Nelson saw me, he slammed the door and began to shoot, hitting me in the chest [and] shoulder area,” Libretti told the union official.
“When I returned fire, I was struck in the leg.”
