An off-duty cop was shot and wounded Wednesday in a Queens road-rage brawl with two brothers that put all three men in the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.
Both siblings, Edwin Rivera, 32, and Shawn Rivera, 27, were in custody — one with a gunshot wound to the hand and the other with cuts, according to Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey.
The fracas jumped off around 12:50 p.m. when Officer Christopher Campos, 27, who is assigned to the 81st Precinct, was driving eastbound on Queens Blvd. service road in his personal vehicle.
Campos came upon a white minivan blocking the roadway, Maddrey said.
“At some point, he could not get by the vehicle and words were exchanged between the off-duty [officer] and the person occupying the white vehicle,” said the chief.
Cell phone video of the dispute shows the officer with his gun drawn, identifying himself as a police officer. His shield is not visible in the footage.
“Get on the ground,” Campos said. “I’m a police officer.”
The brothers were unfazed by the officer’s weapon in the videos, and a standoff ensued as the officer and the brothers shouted at each other.
“You’re a cop?” Edwin Rivera shouted at Campos. “Where’s your badge? Where’s your badge?”
“You got no badge or nothing,” Shawn Rivera said in the video.
The officer called 911 for backup and attempted to put the younger brother, who broke his window, into handcuffs, the chief said.
“You tried to run me over. That’s why I hit that s---,” Shawn Rivera shouted, as Campos holstered his weapon and grabbed him by the wrist.
The officer tried to brace him on a parked car — but both brothers ganged up on the officer and Edwin Rivera put Campos in a chokehold, the video shows.
“They both start fighting the officer. They’re both punching the officer. They’re beating on the officer,” Maddrey said.
“Leave him, he’s a cop,” a man said out of frame of the video.
But both brothers continued to struggle. “We didn’t do nothing,” Shawn saids. “He threatened me with a gun.”
They pushed the cop against one of the cars involved, Maddrey said.
One of the brothers said, “He don’t got nothing in his gun.”
The chief said that the officer believed that the two suspects were attempting to take his gun.
“They’re trying to unholster his weapon,” said Maddrey. “They’re trying to take his weapon from him. All three of the males go down on the ground. The two males are on top of the officer, continuing to punch and kick him at which point a round is discharged.”
The video does not support Maddrey’s description of the brothers punching and kicking Campos — but it does show that they wrestled him to the ground.
After the gunshot went off, Edwin Rivera cried out in pain.
Edwin Rivera was struck in the hand by the bullet. He jumped off the pile and hobbled away to the closest hospital, said police. Shawn Rivera had cuts on his hand from where he punched the officer’s window.
The other brother continued to grapple with the cop and another round was fired, which struck the officer in the upper thigh, Maddrey said.
“At this point, the male is on top of the officer and the officer is laying motionless,” the chief said.
The video doesn’t capture the second shot — but the video shows Shawn shirtless on top of Campos saying, “You shot my brother.”
Cops from the 108th Precinct arrived and put the remaining brother in handcuffs.
A local resident was shocked that the brothers fought back against the officer with his weapon drawn.