Man Who Shot Cop in Crown Heights Gets 25 Years

Kings County District Attorney Kenneth P. Thompson today announced that a 29-year-old Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for shooting a New York City Police Department officer in the leg after the cop and his partner, who were both in uniform, stopped the man for boarding a bus without paying his fare.

District Attorney Thompson said, “This defendant opened fire on and permanently injured a young, heroic cop who was just beginning his career, all because he didn’t want to pay his bus fare. Such wanton disregard for and violence towards our police deserves a 25-year prison sentence.”

The District Attorney said that the defendant, Rashun Robinson, 29, of 692 East 48th Street, in East Flatbush, was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus. Robinson pleaded guilty on July 25, 2014 to one count of aggravated assault on a police officer.

The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, the shooting stemmed from an incident that occurred on February 26, 2014, at approximately 5 p.m., in the vicinity of Empire Boulevard and Utica Avenue, when Police Officer James Li and Police Officer Randy Chow observed the defendant entering the rear of a New York City Transit Authority B46 bus.

The officers ordered the defendant to get off of the bus and he ran across Empire Boulevard, turned and fired multiple shots at both officers, striking Officer Li in the leg and groin, according to the investigation.

The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, both officers returned fire. The defendant was not hit. He was apprehended in a stairwell on Schenectady Avenue shortly after the shooting by officers assigned to the 71st precinct. The defendant had a .45 caliber pistol in his hand when he was caught. Three .45 caliber shell casings were recovered.

Officer Li, who graduated from the Police Academy two months prior to the shooting and was assigned to the 71st precinct, suffered significant, permanent nerve damage to his leg and walks with a cane.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Lewis Lieberman of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Taub, Bureau Chief.