A police officer who happens to be the son of Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) President Patrick Lynch has been placed on modified duty for a shooting incident involving a fellow cop in Whitestone this week.
The New York Daily News reported that Police Officer Kevin Lynch, who is assigned to the 113th Precinct in Jamaica, was near the home of a colleague from the precinct, rookie Police Officer Robert Smilove, at about 11 p.m. on Sunday night, Nov. 13. Both officers were off-duty at the time.
The two officers were sitting in Smilove’s mother’s car in the vicinity of 10th Avenue and 157th Street, during which Smilove allegedly showed Officer Lynch a .38-caliber revolver that he recently bought.
Police sources said the gun accidentally went off while Smilove showed Lynch the weapon, sending a bullet through the car window. Both officers then fled the location.
Officers from the 109th Precinct responded to the area after receiving a 911 call of shots fired; there were no injuries reported. They were able to track down Smilove after checking the plates on the vehicle where the gun had been fired, published reports indicated.
Smilove was suspended, and Lynch was placed on modified duty, for failing to report the incident. Further disciplinary action against the officers is pending the results of a departmental investigation, it was reported.
The PBA represents thousands of NYPD officers in labor and other matters; Patrick Lynch, a native of Bayside, was elected to a fifth term as the union’s president last year.
QNS reached out to the PBA for comment about Sunday’s incident and is awaiting a response.
