By Leslie Albrecht and Murray Weiss
DNAinfo Staff
UPPER WEST SIDE — The off-duty police officer who claimed he was assaulted twice near Riverside Park has been stripped of his gun and badge while NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau investigates the troubling incidents, law enforcement sources told DNAinfo.
Officer Benjamin Ambrosio, 28, who is assigned to the 42nd Precinct in The Bronx, was placed on modified duty after the most recent alleged assault on Oct. 27, sources said. Ambrosio claimed he got into a gunfight with a man who he spotted slashing tires near Riverside Park and West 91st Street at about 10:45 p.m.
Just a month before, on Sept. 27, Ambrosio told investigators that he saw two men robbing a woman inside Riverside Park near West 91st Street about 10:35 p.m., a source said. He said when he confronted the robbers, one of the men allegedly struck him from behind with a blunt object.
IAB took over the case after investigators noticed inconsistencies in Ambrosio's accounts of the incidents, police sources said.
The NYPD did not immediately return a request for comment. Ambrosio has been assigned counsel through the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, his union. Attorney Stuart London, whose firm is representing Ambrosio, declined to comment Tuesday.
Dozens of cops responded to the October assault, including members of NYPD's anti-terror Hercules unit, dressed in bulletproof helmets and vests and carrying automatic weapons.
Ambrosio told investigators in the most recent incident that he was on his way to work when he spotted someone slashing tires, a source said. He said the suspected vandal pulled a gun on him and the two exchanged fire, but neither was struck by the bullets. Ambrosio sustained minor injuries in the scuffle and was taken by ambulance to St. Luke's Hospital.
He said his off-duty weapon, which was on him at the time, was stolen, sources said. It was later recovered inside Riverside Park. A helicopter search, however, did not find the suspect.
Cops at Ambrosio's Bronx precinct described him as a "great guy" who cracks jokes. One colleague said Ambrosio was often on limited duty, assigned to answer phones, because he was frequently ill.
"Every time I saw him he was sick," one of the cops assigned to the precinct said.
The officer said Ambrosio said he had contracted swine flu and also appeared to have had a broken arm.
A source said that Ambrosio joined the NYPD in 2005. He lives in Pelham, N.Y. with his parents.
"Nothing happened to him, thank you, goodbye," said a person who answered the phone at Ambrosio's residence Tuesday.
A man who answered the door Tuesday referred questions to the NYPD.
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer Shayna Jacobs contributed to this story.