Off-duty NYPD cop accused of firing gun in the air after drunk crash was actually aiming at Uber driver: prosecutors

Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News
Updated ·1 min read
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An off-duty NYPD cop accused of firing his gun in the air after getting into a drunken crash in Brooklyn was actually aiming at an Uber driver, prosecutors charge.

Officer Efrain Alejandro, 29, was arrested early Saturday for DWI, menacing and attempted assault, then suspended from the NYPD without pay.

He was driving a Jeep Wrangler near Vernon and Throop Aves. in Bedford-Stuyvesant when he allegedly slammed into a row of three parked cars about 2:10 a.m., according to police.

Cops initially said that the officer rebuffed the owner of a nearby bodega and an Uber driver who both tried to help him, pulling out his pistol and firing a round into the air.

But according to the criminal complaint filed in court, Alejandro pointed the gun at the bodega owner, telling him to “go away.” Then, when an Uber driver tried to drive around Alejandro’s crashed SUV, the cop allegedly fired his gun at the driver but missed.

Alejandro was taken to a nearby hospital. His blood alcohol content was 0.08%, police said.

Alejandro earned $48,555 as a police officer in 2022, according to the website SeeThroughNY, which aggregates data on public employee salaries. He was assigned to the 40th Precinct in the South Bronx before his suspension.