A veteran New York City cop died yesterday after being shoved over a railing, the first police officer’s death in nearly two years.
Officer Alain Schaberger, 42, a Westchester resident who had been a cop for a decade, responded to a domestic violence call at 4:22 a.m. yesterday, arriving at Bergen Street to help a woman whose boyfriend threatened to kill her.
He and another officer found the suspect, George Villanueva, in his bed on St. Marks Place.
The officers cuffed him in front of the apartment building, but he pushed Schaberger with both his hands, shoving him over the railing. Schaberger fell nine feet into a cement stairwell, breaking his neck.
“This morning’s tragic events show how quickly an altercation can turn deadly,” Commissioner Ray Kelly said.
“It’s a dangerous job,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg added.
An NYPD spokesman said it was the first officer’s death since May 2009, when Officer Omar Edwards was killed. Edwards was off duty, and he was chasing a man who broke into his car in Harlem when other officers mistakenly shot him three times.
Follow Alison Bown on Twitter at @alisonatmetro.
