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Man Arrested for Breaking NYPD Officer's Face After Bump at Supermarket

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | January 23, 2015 1:47pm
Officer Assaulted in 113th Precinct
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NYPD

QUEENS — Police arrested a Jamaica man Thursday suspected of punching an off-duty NYPD officer several times in the face earlier this week after an argument at a Queens Pathmark — leaving the man with severe injuries to his face that required surgery, police said.

Tommie Williams, 27, allegedly attacked the 42-year-old officer in a parking lot outside the supermarket.

The incident, which took place Monday about 2:20 p.m., was captured on surveillance video released by the NYPD Wednesday.

The two got into a fight after the lawman bumped into the attacker's girlfriend while shopping at the supermarket on Springfield Boulevard, near 220th Street, in Springfield Gardens, police and Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

During the argument, Williams allegedly told the officer that he would be waiting for him outside, according to Brown.

The lawman was walking to his car about five minutes later, when Williams approached him and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground, according to the Queens DA's office.

After Williams got into his white Chevrolet Malibu, the officer tried to take a photograph of the car with his cellphone, Brown said. Williams then got out of the vehicle and started hitting the officer again numerous time in the face, authorities said.

The officer suffered three fractures to his face in the attack, officials said.

According to Brown, the injuries required hospitalization and the surgical implantation of a metal plate and wires in the officer's face.

It was not clear if he had the surgery. It was also not clear or if he identified himself as a police officer.

“The defendant is accused of allowing a relatively minor bumping incident in a supermarket — to which he was not even directly involved — to rapidly escalate into a violent assault that resulted in him causing serious physical injury to his victim,” Brown said in a statement.

As of Friday afternoon, Williams was awaiting arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on charges of assault and harassment, Brown said.

If convicted, Williams faces up to seven years in prison, according to the Queens DA's office.

Williams has no history of prior arrests, police said.

Information regarding his lawyer was not immediately available.