White Officer Convicted in N.Y. Subway Shooting
A white police officer was convicted Tuesday of second-degree assault for shooting a black undercover transit officer four times in the back during a chaotic chase inside a subway station.
Peter Del-Debbio, 33, was acquitted of first-degree assault in the 1994 shooting of Desmond Robinson. Del-Debbio stared straight ahead as the verdicts were read. Robinson was not in the courtroom.
State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried, who set sentencing for May 22, may require only probation for second-degree assault.
“I’m satisfied that the jury has rejected defense attempts to attack my honesty, competence and reputation,” Robinson said in a statement. “The jury . . . found Officer Del-Debbio clearly responsible.”
Defense attorney James Lysaght promised to appeal, calling the verdict a “travesty.”
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