Photo: 106th Precinct Cops of the Month Danny Rivera (l.) and Mark Shackel receive congratulations from Deputy Inspector Jeff Schiff, the precinct’s commanding officer, and Community Council President Frank Dardani. Forum Photo by Michael V. Cusenza
Late last month, Police Officers Mark Shackel and Daniel Rivera were lauded in this newspaper and elsewhere for foiling an armed robbery at a Rockaway Boulevard MetroPCS store.
Last Wednesday evening, the community watched, scene by graphic scene, what the partners endured to earn that praise, save a victim, and become the 106th Precinct Cops of the Month for May.
Deputy Inspector Jeff Schiff, commanding officer of the 106, rolled the security footage from that afternoon to packed house at the precinct’s Community Council meeting. Schiff’s steady narration brought much-needed context to the ultimate reality TV clip.
The lone clerk who remained inside the store with the perpetrator managed to hit the “hold up” panic alarm. The armed robber fired a shot past the female staffer’s head, “to show that he means business,” Schiff said, then proceeded to methodically tie her hands and feet with duct tape and gag her.
“He’s a terrorist,” Schiff declared. “It’s a different type of terrorism, but he terrorized that victim.”
Shackel and Rivera, Conditions Unit cops, then arrived, responding to the alarm that the clerk had set off minutes earlier.
The footage then shifted to the front, or sales, part of the store. As Shackel and Rivera made their presence known and walked toward the counter, the perp emerged from the rear, fresh from unleashing a round into a wall and manhandling the worker.
Schiff described the conversation taking place on the screen between Shackel, Rivera and the perp, who by that point had seemingly convinced the cops that he was a store employee who had accidentally tripped the alarm. Just as the officers were about to head for the exit, Rivera stopped, his demeanor quickly changed, brow furrowed, gaze shifted from the perp to the back room—because, as Schiff pointed out, it was from that area that the distinct cries for help were emanating.
This touched off a harrowing three-minute struggle for three lives as the cops fought the robber, a ball of brute force ping-ponging from wall to wall, refusing to surrender an inch. Instead of trying to help or call 911, the footage revealed several passersby who whipped out their cameras to catch video or photo evidence of the brawl.
“’I’m not going back to jail! You’re not going to take me!’” were the words of the suspect, Schiff said, as he continued to resist.
With the help of responding back-up, police were eventually able to take the perp into custody.
“While this may be three minutes, it’s a lifetime when you’re fighting for your life,” Schiff noted.
By Michael V. Cusenza
michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
