Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

from newsday.com

The father of a Massapequa Park man who was shot to death by police over the weekend wept Tuesday as he said that police should have found another way to stop him.

"A bullet to the leg. Something, anything except killing the little boy in front of me when I asked them not to," said David DiGeronimo, the father of Anthony DiGeronimo.

Officers Saturday shot and killed Anthony DiGeronimo, 21, a self-professed Satanist who had barricaded himself in a bedroom before lunging at police with a large knife.


Asked if police should have considered using a stun gun instead, David DiGeronimo said yes.

"If he has to be arrested, we'll deal with that, but to empty four guns into him -- no reason for that," DiGeronimo said in the doorway of the home, which his slain son had shared with his parents. "If I have a knife and you have a gun, you shoot me in the leg. If I have a gun, that's different."

DiGeronimo said he's looking for a photo of his son for his funeral.

"I'm not going to say this because I'm his father, but he was a good boy," DiGeronimo said. "He didn't drink and he wouldn't do drugs, and he yelled at us for smoking."

"He helped people shovel in the wintertime. He always helped the elderly out in the neighborhood. Did he get involved with something on the computer? It's possible," he said.

In addition to Anthony DiGeronimo, a Nassau police officer also was shot and killed Saturday. A Metropolitan Transportation Authority police officer mistakenly shot and killed Geoffrey J. Breitkopf, 40, of Selden, a member of the Nassau Police Department's Bureau of Special Operations.

Police said Breitkopf had a rifle at his side as he approached the DiGeronimo house.

"This is obviously a tragedy of immense proportions for all of us," Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said at a news conference Sunday.

Mulvey said the MTA officer likely thought "there was a danger afoot and misconstrued the circumstances."
Criminal charges against the MTA officer were highly unlikely, Mulvey said.

Citing an active investigation, Mulvey declined to say whether Breitkopf wore any identification and if either he or the MTA officer identified themselves as police in the moments before the shooting.

Nassau police are also investigating whether a retired New York City cop's shouted warning of a gun prompted the MTA officer to shoot Breitkopf.

Police interviews of the former NYPD officer and a dozen or so Nassau officers continued Monday as detectives tried to unravel the chaotic minutes surrounding Breitkopf's shooting.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

to me, this is one of those tricky things. It's easy to say that I would have preferred they just shot him in the leg or something, but if someone lunged at me with a knife, I don't know what I would do in that moment.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

Honestly, I and no one else can answer this.. IMO, it's one of those situations where you need to be IN THAT situation in order to truly understand how you would react to it.

This kid may have been a "good boy" but based on what I've read and pictures I've seen, he was intimidating and not of sound mind imo.. he had knives in hand and hanging off his body and was slashing tires... not the good samaritan his father is trying to portray him as..

it's a sad tragedy all around and my heart and prayers go out to all of them...

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

If the police are being lunged at with multiple knives, they had the right to protect themselves and others by shooting him. IMO.

No one else was there but them so the father really can't say what they should and shouldn't have done.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

I feel so bad for the father

That being said, though, I won't question the cop's judgment in that scenario. They were being physically threatened & had only a moment to react. Had the officer taken time to put down his/her gun to grab a stun gun instead there could have been another cop down It was a life or death situation w/an actual weapon drawn and the cop had to act. I don't think we can judge...

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

My DH was called to a job last year with an emotionally disturberd person.
The guy somehow cornered him and was coming at him with a knife.
To the point where he told me he felt the wind off the blade as he swiped by his face.
My DH had his gun drawn and was screaming at this guy to drop the knife.
As did my DH's partner.
Both of them had fingers on the trigger, and he said he was never so close to pulling it in his entire career.
And you can bet he wouldn't have thought- in that moment- when a perp had him in a corner and was trying to slice his throat- OH LET ME AIM FOR THE LEG.
Let me get a stun gun.
Please.
(Luckily the guy fled into a bedroom and locked himself in until ESU came to remove him)

If anyone questions it, you try having some come at you with a knife and see what you do to protect yourself.

You come at a cop with a knife, you get what you get.


One thing- cops are trained to use DEADLY FORCE.
Not disabling force.
Next time, dont' pull a knife on a cop.

Message edited 3/15/2011 1:10:36 PM.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

I'm sure if this was my kid I would be saying the same thing.
And I'm not saying the cop was wrong.
Just saying as a parent I'm sure my reaction would be the same as this father.

Terrible situation. I I will never know what it's like to be in it.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

I believe he had those crazy knives that are huge and are collector's items, almost- not just a simple steak knife.

So sad for all involved.
I feel so badly for the elderly lady neighbor...she recently said she feels bad she called the cops in the first place.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

his FB page is still public, shockingly enough.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

yes it would of been better if they shot him in the leg but if someone is charging me perhaps its not the best time to second think yourself. i don't blame the officers, i blame the kid for putting himself in that position. ALTHOUGH i stress he was sick and needed help the father is obivously in complete shock and grief which he would be angry. The father was obviously in complete denial of the situation of his child and the fact he probably needed some serious help. IN the end it sucks for both parties but the father needs to realize his kid could of prevented being shot.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

Just read this..

A Long Island cop was shot in the face and killed by an MTA officer after a knife-wielding self-proclaimed satanist lunged at police and was gunned down in his home Saturday, sources said.

The tragic events unfolded after Nassau County police got a call for a wild-eyed man walking the streets in Massapequa Park armed with a blade and slashing cars shortly after 8 p.m., authorities and witnesses said.

"He was dragging about an 8-inch chef knife across the windows of two cars," said 12-year-old Brian Mullins. "He had murderous-looking eyes staring me down. I thought he was staring into my soul."

Anthony DiGeronimo - who witnesses said was wearing all black with a white mask covered in metal chains - then took to Front St., where he continued to rattle the neighborhood, sources said.

"I was pulling out of my driveway - all of a sudden, I heard a big bang on top of my window," said Theresa Kelly, 71.

"He was hanging on my windshield and he had a very big knife in his hand," she said.

"I was petrified. I thought he was going to break my windshield," she added.

Kelly called 911 and followed the crazed 21-year-old until cops responded.

She said police told him to drop the blade, but instead he bolted into his family's Front St. house.

"He ignored the cop and ran into the house," she said. "His father came out very upset and said, 'Don't shoot my son! Don't shoot my son!'"

Officers kept the man and another woman outside as cops and an MTA officer - who, a source said, lived nearby - rushed inside to nab the armed man, who had barricaded himself in a rear bedroom.

Sources said he was ordered again to drop the weapon, but instead lunged at the cops, forcing at least two officers to shoot the man dead.

After the shooting, a Nassau County special operations cop stepped into the home. An MTA officer, standing near the door, saw the gun and shot the cop in the face.

The officer died soon later at Nassau County University Medical Center.

"It was friendly fire," a source said.

A friend said it wasn't hard to believe DiGeronimo was waltzing around the neighborhood with a knife.

"Everyone knows he has weapons," said Evan Krohn, 23.

"He was always a strange kid," Krohn said. "He would walk around the park with machetes."

On DiGeronimo's Facebook page, he lists his religion as theistic satanist and his political views as anarchist.

His favorite quote is attributed to controversial author Aleister Crowley: "Do what thou wilt."

DiGeronimo warns readers of his online journal, which is filled with his scribblings about satanism, to "take it as you will. Keep in mind, I'm not your 'small-time' occultist."

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

Nobody knows what really happened except the cops and the dead guy and the dead guy, well, he's dead.

I'm not a cop and I don't know the protocol to follow in a situation like that, but if the guy had barricaded himself in a room, wouldn't it make sense to almost treat it like a hostage situation until he decided to come out or was inflicting harm on himslef? I don't know. I mean, if the guy comes flying out at you, knives waving, then yeah I can understand why they shot him. Does it say though that the cops emptied their guns out on him? If so, that may have been excessive force. There seem to be a lot of pieces missing in this puzzle.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

I feel bad for the family but it's insane to suggest a police officer should use a stun gun to approach a guy with a knife.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

IMO I feel cops shouldn't be so quick to shoot. And if they need to, yes I do feel they should be trained to disable a person instead of killing them. I understand he came at them with a knife but why not lower your aim and give him a shot to the leg? I know it could just be a reaction to shoot but isn't this why cops go through training? Anybody can be given a gun and shoot someone else in order to stop them. Cops should be trained to disable a person first then proceed to deadly force if that doesn't work for some reason.

Just a sad situation for all sides.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

I think he is speaking as a grieving parent. As mentally disturbed as this kid seems, he was still someone's child. So I can't blame the guy for how he feels.

That being said, the kid came at the cops and other people with some pretty serious weapons.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

Posted by cds58019

IMO I feel cops shouldn't be so quick to shoot. And if they need to, yes I do feel they should be trained to disable a person instead of killing them. I understand he came at them with a knife but why not lower your aim and give him a shot to the leg? I know it could just be a reaction to shoot but isn't this why cops go through training? Anybody can be given a gun and shoot someone else in order to stop them. Cops should be trained to disable a person first then proceed to deadly force if that doesn't work for some reason.

Just a sad situation for all sides.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

No one can say what the cops should have done. It is already done, they obviously shot their weapons for a reason. They are trained to protect the public and themselves.

A parent is going to want to protect their child in every way possible, but when you don't teach them to act appropriately in society, perhaps there is some fault there.

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)

Re: Massapequa Park Dad: "Police should not have killed my son." - thoughts? (w/poll)