By Jeff Goldman
nj.com
NEW YORK — A former NYPD officer who left a man paralyzed after shooting him during a road rage incident in Voorhees has been sentenced 10 years in state prison.
Hieu Tran, 28, of Yonkers, New York, will have to serve at least eight years, six months before he is eligible for parole. He pleaded guilty to attempted murder on Nov. 5.
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The victim’s mother, Manjina Patel, spoke though tears as she addressed the court on Monday.
Patel said she and some of her family moved to Texas to be close to her now 32-year-old son, Kishan Patel, who is in a rehabilitation facility in Texas receiving around-the-clock care.
“We packed our suitcases and moved our lives to Texas, leaving behind our daughter, our business and our home,” Patel said. ”We don’t know how we’re supposed to move forward, but every day we will continue to fight and do what it takes to be back home with out family. This feels like a terrible dream, one we can’t wake up from.
Tran apologized Monday at his sentencing for firing shots at Kishan Patel on May 17, 2024, at the intersection of Route 73 and Cooper Road.
“Every morning when I wake up in my cell I get on my knees and pray that Mr. Kishan Patel can recover and lead a fulfilling life,” Tran said. “I want the families to know how awful I feel and I truly am sorry.”
Investigators said Tran used his NYPD-issued firearm to shoot Patel as both men sat in their vehicles in what has been described as a road rage incident.
Shell casings at the crime scene matched Tran’s NYPD-issued firearm, investigators have said.
According to a federal lawsuit, Patel’s family filed on May 6, Tran “was a ticking timebomb” who opened fire with his service weapon, striking Patel and causing the wounded man to crash into multiple vehicles.
The lawsuit alleged that after the shooting Tran “calmly fled the scene, drove north, stopped for gas, went home to New York, reloaded his weapon and went to work the next day like nothing happened.”
A woman also hurt in the five-vehicle crash suffered broken ribs and injuries to her sternum and knee, according to 6abc.com.
NJ Advance Media staff writer Anthony G. Attrino contributed to this report.
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