Officers honored as Top Cops for arresting Baldwin murder suspects

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Three police officers from the Fifth Precinct were honored at the Nassau County Legislature on April 22 for apprehending three suspects linked to a shooting and attempted murder in Baldwin back in February.

According to Nassau County police, Officer Michael Graham was on patrol in West Hempstead on Feb. 2 and saw a Honda Civic drive by without license plates. Graham then pulled the vehicle over, and was issuing summonses when he received a radio notification that officers were looking for a Honda Civic without license plates from which a passenger shot a gun in Baldwin. Detectives said the vehicle fled the scene of a rooftop shooting, with three suspects in the vehicle, all of whom were wanted in relation to the shooting that nearly killed a woman leaving her house in Baldwin.

Once Graham realized the Honda matched the description of the vehicle that fled the scene in Baldwin, he requested backup, and Officers Anthony Langone and John Gross arrived on the scene. Together, they questioned the suspects and realized that one of the passengers in the back seat had a handgun in his waistband. The detectives then asked the suspect to leave the vehicle, and when he did not comply, they entered the vehicle and removed the weapon. The suspect then fought with the officers, at which point they tased the suspect.

“Because of the officers’ attention to detail and teamwork, they were able to take the gun off the street and out of the hands of a criminal,” James McDermott, the Police PBA president, said at the legislative meeting. “That is why we are proud to name them Legislative Top Cops of April 2019.”

At the meeting. Legislators Laura Schaefer and Carrié Solages also thanked the police officers for their hard work, and Graham thanked Langone and Gross for assisting him that night.