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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

NYPD officer ‘fighting for life’

Associated Press

NEW YORK – A man who officials say boasted of being a street “hellraiser” and who served prison time for attempted murder was arraigned on charges that he shot a New York City police officer in the head.

Officer Brian Moore “is fighting for his life,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown told the Associated Press after spending many hours with the comatose 25-year-old officer.

Moore remained hospitalized in critical but stable condition after hours of surgery for what court papers described as “severe injuries to his skull and brain.”

The suspect, Demetrius Blackwell, was ordered held without bail Sunday after appearing in Queens Criminal Court in a torn white jumpsuit. His hands were cuffed behind his back and legs shackled.

He was arrested Saturday night and charged with attempted murder in Moore’s shooting.

The 35-year-old suspect did not enter a plea during the five-minute arraignment, for which more than 100 officers packed the courtroom.

Prosecutors said they intend to present the case to a grand jury before Blackwell’s next court date, which was scheduled for Friday.

“This was nothing more and nothing less than a cold-blooded attempt at an assassination of New York’s finest,” Assistant District Attorney Peter McCormack said.

Blackwell’s court-appointed lawyer, David Bart, said his client “emphatically denies” the charges, which also include assault and weapons offenses.

McCormack said Moore and patrol partner Erik Jansen – both in plainclothes in an unmarked police car – approached Blackwell on a Queens street after seeing him tugging at his waistband about 6:15 p.m. Saturday and asked him, “What are you carrying?”

The officers ordered Blackwell to stop and exchanged words with him. That’s when Blackwell turned, the prosecutor said, and fired at least two shots.

Jansen was not hit and radioed for help.

After Blackwell’s arrest, McCormack said, three witnesses picked him out of a police lineup.

He said Blackwell told a detective that he is known as a “hellraiser on the street.”

After the arraignment, Bart told Judge Michael Yavinsky that his client was arrested at his home without a warrant and that “the arrest may be illegal.”

Both McCormack and a police spokesman declined to comment on the warrant, citing the ongoing investigation.