Cop Shot By Peer Asks Leniency For Him

Sat., June 22, 1996

Compiled From Wire Services

The case against a white police officer who a jury found recklessly shot a black undercover transit cop on a crowded subway platform nearly two years ago ended Friday on a note of reconciliation.

A judge sentenced former Officer Peter Del-Debbio to 200 hours of community service and five years’ probation for shooting retired Officer Desmond Robinson five times in the back after mistaking him for a criminal.

Robinson appeared at the sentencing and urged the court to be “merciful and lenient” toward Del-Debbio. “Perhaps more than anyone, I can understand the pain and emptiness that Peter Del-Debbio must feel having been forced to leave his job,” Robinson read in a quiet voice from a prepared statement.

Del-Debbio, 35, was dismissed from the police force after his conviction in March on a charge of second-degree assault. Robinson, who still has a bullet in him from the shooting, has left the force because of injuries suffered in the Aug. 22, 1994, incident in Manhattan.

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Cop Shot By Peer Asks Leniency For Him

Jesse Tinsley

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