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An NYPD bigwig who’s in hot water after his gun discharged during a rowdy off-duty scuffle in Rockland County broke his silence Monday — asking the public not to rush to judgment.
NYPD Assistant Chief Benjamin Gurley said the wild May 24 incident in the town of Haverstraw erupted over his daughter being repeatedly harassed by an unidentified man in a statement released by his lawyer Monday, in which he urged patience while an investigation plays out.
“Chief Gurley is shocked by this incident, in which his daughter was repeatedly terrorized by an adult former schoolmate,” attorney Oliver Storch said in an email to The Post.
“The Gurley family filed two police reports with Haverstraw PD and he personally tried to contact the individual’s parents regarding their adult son’s disturbing and threatening behavior, a reasonable and prudent response given today’s climate of school violence and escalating threats,” Storch said.
He said Gurley, a 26-year veteran of the department, is fully cooperating with cops.
“Speculation regarding the precise circumstances of Chief Gurley being assaulted and the individual grabbing his weapon will be properly addressed during the investigation,” the lawyer added. “We ask the public to withhold judgment until the investigation has been concluded.”
Haverstraw police said they responded to reports of a fight at a ShopRite parking lot in town around 7:45 p.m. on May 24 — and found Gurley and the other man brawling, officials said on Facebook.
Both men were transported to a local hospital with minor injuries, but police said they determined that Gurley’s “legally-owned” handgun discharged when “the firearm was removed from the individual’s waistband,” although the release did not specify who may have tried to remove the weapon.
The stray bullet did not strike anyone, Haverstraw cops said.
Police also noted that Gurley’s daughter and the other man are “acquaintances only and are not, nor have they ever been, in any form of domestic relationship.”
Storch said the whole incident underscores the need for state lawmakers to pass the proposed Ceasing Repeated and Extremely Egregious Predatory Behavior Act, or CREEP Act, which seeks to beef up anti-stalking and harassment laws while increasing penalties.
According to law enforcement sources, Gurley, who was head of the recently created Patrol Borough Bronx North, has been placed on modified duty and reassigned while the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau and the Force Investigation Division conduct separate probes of the incident.
He is a Bronx native and father of three.
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