NYPD trial begins for pilot accused of flying department surveillance plane in genital-shaped pattern
An NYPD pilot found himself in the hot seat Tuesday to answer to charges that he flew the department’s super-secret, federally-funded surveillance plane in the shape of a giant penis.
Police Officer Derin De Vuono’s trial for misuse of the high tech Cessna plane began at NYPD headquarters, with a department prosecutor keeping a straight face as she described the phallic-shaped flight pattern.
“The airplane was maneuvered in a manner as to depict an ... illustration (on the) radar track,” said NYPD prosecutor Kachina Brock about the lewd 2017 act.
While the officer was “a pilot in command and team leader," he was accused of flying the plane inappropriately again, Brock said.
“The airplane was maneuvered in a manner as to depict the continental United States on the radar track,” she said. “You will find the defendant guilty of the preponderance of the evidence.”
Devuono is also accused of making improper entries in a flight log and not conducting flight surveys.
De Vuono’s lawyer Stu London called it an “unbelievably complicated case.”
“Unless you are actually an actual pilot, this is an unbelievably complicated case in terms of the details that my client is accused of,” London said. “My client at no point intentionally misled the NYPD.”
Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey Adler said the allegations amounted to “horseplay.”
The NYPD purchased the $4 million surveillance plane in 2017 to check container ships off the coast of the city for potential hazardous substances or radiation that could be used in a terror attack.
De Vuono was previously lauded for a series of missions, including one where he and a colleague flew life-saving anti-venom from the city to Maryland to treat a 68-year-old man who was bitten by a poisonous snake.
He was also involved in a New Jersey operation to rescue a woman trapped on a 200-foot cliff with a broken ankle. She was safely taken to the hospital.
A second cop on the witness list — who already lost five vacation days for his role in the jaunt — abruptly declined to testify Tuesday.
De Vuono made $115,046 including overtime in 2018 working for the NYPD, records show.
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