NYPD Assistant Chief Benjamin Gurley, the cop embroiled in an suburban parking lot clash with a young man in which a shot was fired, told investigators he was punched in the head twice before pulling his gun, a source close to the chief told The News.
The conflict revolved around threatening memes and videos the young man had sent to Gurley’s daughter, who he knows from college, Gurley told Internal Affairs Bureau investigators, the Daily News has learned.
According to Gurley’s account, the young man had made disturbing posts about the chief’s daughter on social media, including one in which he placed a halo over her head, suggesting she was dead, the source said.
The confrontation took place in a supermarket parking lot after Gurley, 52, learned the young man was there and went to find him, the source said.
Gurley, the commanding officer of the newly created Patrol Borough North Bronx, was stripped of his gun and shield and transferred following the confrontation.
The 26-year veteran of the NYPD had earlier reported the harassment to local police, the source said — but went to talk to the young man himself at the ShopRite parking lot on West Ramapo Road in Garnerville, N.Y., around 7:45 p.m. May 24.
The young man was sitting on a bench when Gurley approached but immediately jumped up and attacked him as the cop stepped up to him, according to Gurley’s account of the incident, the source said.
“He punches Gurley twice in the head,” the source said of the young man. “Gurley’s a little out of it. That’s when (Gurley) reaches for his gun and the kid tries to grab the gun. And as he’s trying to grab the gun, Gurley yanks it back.”
The shot was fired moments later, the source said. No one was hit.
The Haverstraw Police Department responded and are investigating. No one has been arrested or charged as investigators try to determine exactly how the shot came to be fired.
The name of the college student has not been released.
It was not immediately clear if local cops had investigated the harassment complaints Gurley and his wife filed against the college student on their daughter’s behalf. An email to the Haverstraw Police Department for an update on the investigation was not immediately returned.
The chief’s daughter witnessed the shooting but was seated in Gurley’s car when the shot was fired. The daughter, the youngest of the chief’s two children, was the one who called 911, the source said.
The NYPD confirmed on Tuesday that Gurley was stripped of his gun and shield and placed on modified assignment as the Internal Affairs Bureau and the department’s Force Investigation Division investigate the incident.
In a statement released Tuesday, Haverstraw police said Gurley’s gun “was removed from the individual’s (Gurley’s) waistband, resulting in one round being discharged from the weapon.”
Both Gurley and the other man were treated at a hospital for minor injuries and released.
The statement said the confrontation “may have stemmed from the other male individual allegedly harassing the NYPD member’s daughter.”
The man and Gurley’s daughter are acquaintances and have never been in a relationship, the statement said.
Haverstraw police are working with the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office to determine if anyone will be charged. Gurley has not yet talked to the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office.
After the incident, Gurley was promptly transferred to the NYPD Housing Bureau, where — although still on modified duty — he’s now the executive officer.
The incident came just four days after Mayor Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, to much fanfare, announced the Bronx had officially been split into two distinct NYPD patrol commands, a restructuring aiming to reduce the disproportionately high crime rates in the borough.
Patrol borough commands oversee local police precinct operations.
Before the splitting of the Bronx into two commands, for the last three years Gurley was the commanding officer of Patrol Borough Bronx, overseeing the entire borough.
The Bronx accounts for more than one-third of the city’s murders so far this year. Except for Staten Island, every other borough in the city has long been served by two NYPD patrol commands. An additional 200 officers will be assigned to the Bronx as it is divided into separate north and south borough commands.
