Related: Slain N.Y. officer may have been mistaken for a suspect
By Sabrina Ford and Christine Caulfield
The New York Post
NEW YORK — An off-duty cop shot dead by other officers in Westchester was trying to break up a fight when he was gunned down, officials said yesterday.
Authorities believe the victim, Officer Christopher Ridley, 23, a Mount Vernon cop since 2006, was killed while he was in the process of making an arrest in the scuffle outside the Department of Social Services building in White Plains on Friday evening.
Ridley, not in uniform, was struggling with a 39-year-old man when his gun discharged, prompting a group of Westchester cops to rush to the scene, according to The Journal News.
Ridley then pointed the gun at the man and was ordered to drop it, witnesses said.
When he didn’t immediately comply, police opened fire and killed him, according to witnesses.
“Our investigation shows that Christopher Ridley witnessed a violent assault,” said White Plains Public Safety Commissioner Frank Straub.
“Off duty at the time, he took action,” Straub added, but declined to say why the responding officers opened fire.
Mount Vernon Police Commissioner David Chong said he was confident the White Plains police would conduct a “thorough and unbiased” investigation.
“We are devastated by our loss. His colleagues have described him to me as a quiet and kind soul,” Chong said.
Family friends Betty Lambdon, from White Plains, and Mary Battiste, from Yonkers, said they wanted to know what went wrong.
“We’re here to get answers because there’s been so many different stories,” said Battiste.
“He was a beautiful young man,” said Lambdon.
Meanwhile, the Rev. Al Sharpton yesterday demanded a full investigation into the fatal shooting.
Flanking family and friends of Ridley, Sharpton called on the black community not to rush to judgment as he promised to monitor the probe closely.
“We don’t know all of the circumstances. Just as we don’t want the community to assume something wrong was done, you can’t do a 12-hour investigation and say it’s a justified shooting,” Sharpton said.
Copyright 2008 The New York Post