The city’s last cop-on-cop shooting was more than a decade ago – and it raised the high racial tensions of the Rudy Giuliani era to a new level.
It happened on the hot evening of Aug. 22, 1994, and the victim was plainclothes transit cop Desmond Robinson, an eight-year veteran who is black – and nicknamed “The Phantom” for his ability to blend in with masses and catch even the savviest criminals. He was standing with some uniformed officers near a token booth at the 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue subway station.
Some passengers came off an escalator and said they’d seen two teenagers with guns on the platform below.
The cops raced down the up escalator and saw a 16-year-old drop a .22-caliber Derringer. The young man was arrested and taken up the stairs by two uniformed cops.
A 17-year-old was then spotted running down the platform, pulling a sawed-off shotgun from his pants.
The teen tried to drop it between the E train and the platform but the gun hit the ground and went off – loudly – grazing a passenger.
Off-duty officer Peter Del-Debbio, who is white and worked in the public morals unit, was on his way home and unaware of the chaos. He heard the shotgun go off only a few feet away from him.
Six-year veteran Del-Debbio picked up the shotgun and then spotted Robinson coming down the platform with a gun drawn. Del-Debbio pulled his own .38-caliber service revolver and aimed at Robinson.
As Robinson turned to face Del-Debbio, the white cop fired at the black cop, knocking him down with two bullets face on, then pumping three more into his back as he lay writhing on the floor.
Del-Debbio was shot in the arm by another transit officer.
He had pulled his badge, but did not shout the standard, “Police, Don’t move!” investigators said at the time.
Robinson was not wearing the “colors of the day,” had not displayed his badge and was not wearing a bulletproof vest.
He was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he eventually recovered from his wounds.
Neither officer is still on the force.
In 1996, Del-Debbio was convicted of second-degree assault and sentenced to probation.
Robinson settled a $3 million dollar lawsuit against the city in 2003, and moved from Staten Island to Florida.
Neither returned calls for comment.