Two NYPD cops proved again that quality-of-life busts are a surefire way to get guns off the streets when they found a loaded firearm on a dangerous criminal they stopped for urinating in public, authorities said Thursday.
The officers were on patrol in the Morrisania section of The Bronx at about 5 p.m. Monday when they spotted Ronnie Brown, 41, relieving himself outside 505 E. 162nd St., cops said.
Brown — who has prior busts for attempted murder, rape, robbery and burglary — took off running when he saw the officers heading his way, but the cops chased him down.
While he was in custody, the officers discovered a loaded .22-caliber Beretta semiautomatic handgun on him, police said.
The convicted sex offender told cops that he needs the weapon to protect himself because others might suspect he is a deviant.
“A lot of people think I’m a rapist and they are looking to kill me,” Brown told cops after he was busted. “That’s why I carry it for protection.”
A high-ranking police source told The Post that Brown was spotted urinating right by a school with cops just around the corner.
“He has no regard,” the source said. “He wasn’t worried about being stopped by the police. If he wasn’t urinating, they wouldn’t have paid attention to him.”
The bust comes as City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and other council members clamor to decriminalize quality-of-life violations, such as public urination, public drinking and fare-beating.
Mark-Viverito says arrests for such minor violations drive a wedge between police and the community.
The issue is still under discussion in the council, a source said.
Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said the Bronx bust shows why the council should back off.
“This arrest shows both the advantage of enforcing quality-of-life regulations and the danger police officers face in doing so,” Lynch told The Post.
Brown was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and public urination.
His rap sheet dates back to November 1992, when he and another thug allegedly held up a Manhattan grocery at gunpoint.
In January 1997, he was charged with robbery, and in September 1998, he was charged with grand larceny. He was convicted after raping a woman at gunpoint in October 1998, and was forced to register as a Level 3 sex offender. He also has at least six charges related to marijuana possession.
Additional reporting by Michael Gartland