Two married NYPD detectives who heard a loud bang while driving in the Bronx with their 2-year-old baby on the Fourth of July were shocked to later discover part of a bullet lodged in their car door, the wife told The Post.
Stephanie Eiel, 39, who is assigned to school safety, said she and her detective husband were headed home from a holiday outing in Rockland County when they heard the bang that they assumed was from fireworks as they drove on the Bronx River Parkway near Gun Hill Road.
“We did react briefly but we kept driving, our ears started ringing,” Eiel said.
“We checked the baby to make sure he was OK. He was fine. He started watching his cartoons again — and we kept driving.”
It wasn’t until Eiel was at work Tuesday that she sent a picture of the damaged door to her husband and he urged her to look more closely, she said.
“I went downstairs with my partner and saw, really examined the panel of my car, and saw it appeared to be a bullet fragment that went through it,” Eiel said. “It could have hit me or my son because my son was sitting directly behind me. It could of ended really badly for us. I was shocked.”
She said she felt there was “literally nothing we could do.”
“Thank God it ended with us being safe, but at that moment in time I just felt kind of shocked… you anticipate things like this happening on the job, not off duty with your 2 year old sitting directly behind us.”
Her husband, a 17-year veteran of the NYPD, was upset, she said.
“He’s been around the world, [in the military], serving in the NYPD, and you never think of something like this happening,” she said. “He’s just grateful we’re OK, but there’s lots to think about with the 2 year old. Could of been me, him, the bullet could of ricocheted inside the car. It could of went anywhere.”
Eiel said she and her husband have lived in the Bronx their whole lives but never anticipated falling victim to crime themselves.
“We live in the city, work in the city, we love the city — when we’re off duty things like this should not be happening,” she said.
Detectives’ Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo said the incident could have been a “real tragedy” and urged the creation of a special firearms prosecutor to handle gun violence citywide.
“This incident could have been a real tragedy, we had a mother and father, a child, 2 year old child that could of lost their lives because of gun violence,” he said. “It could be anyone, anywhere – and that’s why I’ve been calling on the governor to appoint a special firearms prosecutors to deal with the gun violence in New York City and New York state – it’s at an epidemic level – you’d have a more of a coordinated effort.”
He said all gun cases should go to one office for “precision prosecution of gun violence.”
“Not like it is now, where it’s different in every borough,” the union boss said. “People’s lives and the safety of New York City detectives depend on it.”
