Mount Vernon man shot outside house party details off-duty cop's role
One of the brothers shot outside a Mount Vernon house party over the weekend said they had nothing to do with the confrontation that led to the shooting and that the only one he saw fire a weapon was an off-duty Mount Vernon cop.
State police are continuing their investigation into the shooting on South 4th Avenue early Sunday morning and have released few details. But Joe Murray, a lawyer representing Officer Raiton Betty, said he was confident that the probe would end with a criminal prosecution for the attempted murder of his client.
But neither Murray nor police would comment on the victim's suggestion that there was only one gun fired.
Following his release from the hospital, Mark Nembhard is describing a chaotic scene after the officer got into a confrontation with another party-goer.
Nembhard, 34, told The Journal News/lohud Tuesday that he and his brother had arrived just before 1 a.m. They each paid the $20 cover charge, went to the back and ordered alcohol and were waiting for it when they saw someone they knew leave and seem to be confronted by another man.
Nembhard said he did not recognize the man or know that he was a cop. But he said he could tell he had a gun under his shirt. He said he and his brother followed them to the front to see what was going on when they saw the officer tussling with the man they knew and reach for his gun. When the other man tried to grab at the gun, Nembhard said, the officer pulled it out.
"The officer started going crazy, just started shooting," Nembhard said.
Nembhard said he had started to run away once he saw the gun pulled out. He was hit in the foot and got out of the hospital on Monday. His brother was struck in the back and shoulder and remains hospitalized. The man who was arguing with the cop was not hit, he said.
Nembhard said there were armed security guards at the party but he did not think any of them intervened during the confrontation.
Betty is a 6-year veteran of the department. Murray would not discuss details of the case or respond to Nembhard's claims, citing the ongoing investigation. But he emphasized that Betty was not working at the party, that he was there socially having accepted an invitation from a friend.
A city spokesman said Tuesday that the officer had been placed on modified duty while the investigation is ongoing, per department policy related to when off-duty officers are involved in "serious" incidents.
He referred all questions about the shooting and the investigation to state police, whose spokesman could not immediately be reached.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mount Vernon NY house party victim of off-duty cop shooting speaks
