NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — The man accused of shooting two NYPD officers who tried to pull him over for driving the wrong way on a one-way street in Queens earlier this month was arraigned in criminal court on Wednesday, prosecutors said.
Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, 19, is charged in a 20-count indictment with attempted murder, attempted assault, attempted aggravated assault, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, and driving violations.
“An attempt on the lives of two police officers simply making a traffic stop should offend every New Yorker,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.
According to the charges, uniformed NYPD police officers Christopher Abreu and Richard Yarusso were on patrol with NYPD Sergeant Nicholas Condos in an unmarked police vehicle at about 1:40 a.m. on June 3 when they spotted Mata.
He was allegedly driving an unregistered motorcycle the wrong way on Ditmars Boulevard near 90th Street in East Elmhurst without wearing a helmet, and was observed weaving onto the sidewalk with pedestrians present.
When Yarusso and Condos tried to approach Mata, he allegedly ditched his motorcycle and fled on foot. Yarusso pursued him on foot, Abreu in the police vehicle and Condos on the motorcycle that Mata has been driving.
Abreu caught up to Mata near 23rd Avenue and 89th Street and attempted to place him under arrest, but prosecutors said that Mata resisted by twisting his body, flailing his arms and reaching inside a bag he had across his chest.
Mata is accused of grabbing a gun from his bag and shooting Yarusso, who had joined the struggle, in the lower chest at point-blank range. Yarusso was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, stopping the bullet.
He then allegedly turned the gun on Abreu and hit him in the upper right thigh.
Abreu returned fire and hit Mata in the foot and ankle area, at which point Mata dropped the gun and was put in handcuffs.
A loaded Hi-Point .380-caliber pistol was recovered from the scene along with two deformed fired bullets, nine bullet fragments and shell casings.
Venezuelan-born Mata was residing at 90-10 Ditmars Blvd., a former Courtyard Marriott Hotel being operated as a migrant shelter called the Landing and has no prior arrests in New York City, but at the time of his arrest, police said that he is a suspect in several Queens robberies.
If convicted of the top count, prosecutors said that Mata faces a maximum sentence of 40 years to life in prison for both charges of first-degree attempted murder.