Family of hero NYPD Cop Michael Buczek pleads with Parole Board to keep his killer in prison

The widow and siblings of a heroic and decorated young NYPD officer gunned down in the line of duty 37 years ago this month went before the state Parole Board today to plead with its members to keep his cold-blooded killer in prison.

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 Police Officer Michael Buczek was just 24 years old with three years on the job on the night of Oct. 18, 1988, yet he had already earned multiple medals and commendations for his outstanding service. Unfortunately, that was the night he met Pablo Almonte and his crew of drug dealers in Washington Heights. While trying to arrest them, Buczek was shot point-blank by one of the suspects.

The killers fled to the Dominican Republic and eluded justice for many years until 2002, when Almonte and another suspect were finally extradited. (The third suspect died in Dominican police custody while awaiting extradition.) In June 2003, Almonte and his partner-in-crime were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Members of Buczek’s hero family as well as active and retired police officers rallied outside the Manhattan office of the NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision on Friday, Oct. 31, demanding the Parole Board keep Almonte in custody.

PBA President Patrick Hendry said:

“Today, for the first time, this hero family went before the Parole Board and relived the worst moment of their lives 37 years ago. They waited 15 years for this vicious killer to be brought to justice, and now they are waiting for justice once again. This Parole Board has to stop catering to criminals and letting families down. They need to stand up for justice by never letting another cop killer back on the streets.”     

Since 2017, the Parole Board has freed at least 43 cop-killers statewide.

Officer Buczek was killed at a particularly dangerous moment in the city’s crimefighting history. Buczek’s name is forever linked to that of another young cop, P.O. Christopher Hoban, who was gunned down on the same night by drug dealers in upper Manhattan. Their murders sparked public outcry across the city over the epidemic of drug-related violent crime.

Hoban’s killing came three hours earlier. Four days later, the two heroes — who likely had never met in life — were memorialized together in death at an enormous joint funeral at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.