By Sarina Trangle
A Queens Supreme Court Judge handed down a five-year sentence to the Ridgewood man who injured a police officer while hijacking an NYPD van during an arrest this spring, the Queens DA said.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Acting Supreme Court Justice Dorothy Chin-Brandt sentenced Bryan McMenamin, 39, last week to five years behind bars and five years of post-release supervision.
McMenamin pleaded guilty to assault in August after police and prosecutors said he maneuvered himself into the driver’s seat of a parked van while in handcuffs June 16 and dragged an officer who attempted to stop him about a block. The officers had stepped out of the car, but left the keys in the ignition, according to Brown.
“This case underscores yet again the dangers police officers face every day serving and protecting the citizens of New York City. The sentence imposed by the court is fitting considering the seriousness of the crime,” Brown said in a statement.
McMenamin’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
Prosecutors said police stopped McMenamin and Peter Zacharakis around 6:15 p.m. when Zacharakis failed to signal before turning near Central Avenue and 66th Street in Glendale.
Officers determined Zacharakis had a forged driver’s license and recovered a gravity knife from the car console, a machete wedged between the passenger seat and console, a P17 pellet handgun from under the driver’s seat and nine glass envelopes with heroin in Zacharakis’ pocket, according to the criminal complaint.
Zacharakis told police he purchased the heroin from McMenamin, prosecutors said.
Police then found a plastic baggy of heroin in McMenamin’s pocket, according to the complaint.
Brown said both were placed under arrest and left in an NYPD van while officers made an unrelated stop.
Somehow, McMenamin moved behind the wheel and began to drive.
According to the criminal complaint, an officer saw McMenamin and grabbed the driver’s side door in an attempt to stop him.
McMenamin then reversed and dragged the officer for nearly a block, the complaint said.
Brown says the skin on his leg was scrapped off and a ligament was damaged, requiring care at an area hospital.
Meanwhile, police found the van with Zacharakis in it nearly a mile away at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Decatur Street in Ridgewood.
McMenamin was found and cuffed the next day.
Reach reporter Sarina Trangle at 718-260-4546 or by e-mail at strangle@cnglocal.com.
