An Edgemere man was sentenced to 19 years in prison Tuesday for attempted murder in the shooting of an off-duty NYPD officer who he tried to carjack in Far Rockaway last year.
Chad Collie, 20, of Rockaway Beach Boulevard, pleaded guilty last month before Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino to attempted murder in the second degree.
According to the charges, at approximately 10 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2022, Collie and his accomplice Jayare Robinson approached off-duty NYPD Officer Manuel Soto as he sat in his vehicle, which was stopped at a traffic light near the intersection of Beach Channel Drive and Beach 62nd Street. Collie tapped on the driver’s side window and, at gunpoint, demanded the 22-year-old off-duty cop get out of the car.
Video surveillance shows Soto exiting the vehicle and backing away from Collie, who proceeded to fire three shots at the officer, striking him once in the shoulder, according to the charges. The off-duty officer returned fire but missed Collie, who then fled the scene on foot.
Uniformed officers from the 100th Precinct in Rockaway Beach were nearby and heard the gunfire. They raced to the scene of the shooting and spotted Collie and Robinson on Beach 62nd Street.
The officers from the 100th Precinct Public Safety Team followed them to the intersection of Beach Channel Drive and Beach 59th Street where the two teenagers were taken into custody and Collie’s handgun was recovered.
Collie admitted he fired this handgun three times at the off-duty cop wounding him in his shoulder.Photo courtesy of NYPD
Back at the crime scene, officers took Soto into their vehicle and rushed him to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was treated for the gunshot wound to his shoulder.
Detectives collected three shell casings that were found at the crime scene near the intersection of Beach 62nd Street and Beach Channel Drive where Collie had fired the shots. The shooting of the off-duty officer occurred just hours before the NYPD bid farewell to slain Police Officer Wilbert Mora at his funeral Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Mora was fatally shot along with his partner Police Officer Jason Rivera while responding to a domestic dispute in Harlem. Both officers were posthumously promoted to first-grade detectives.
“This type of lawlessness has no place in our communities and we have made sure that a dangerous man will serve a long prison sentence,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “We will not let up in our efforts to get guns off our streets.”
Justice Cimino imposed the determinate sentence of 19 years in prison, to be followed by five years post-release supervision.