By Nick Regina
Staten Island Advance
NEW YORK — Ryan Grant, a former Green Bay Packer who won a Super Bowl with the team in 2011, is among a group who contributed to gathering bail money for a man charged with shooting an NYPD detective on Staten Island in January, according to the New York Post.
Nelson Pizarro was released on bond this week. Earlier this year, he was charged with shooting NYPD detective Dominick Libretti during a drug raid at a New Springville residence.
Pizarro received the $500,000 cash bail required to secure a $5M bond for release, thanks in part to contributions from Grant, the former NFL running back Grant. Grant, who was born in Suffern, N.Y. and starred at Notre Dame prior to a six-year NFL career, was not reached for comment.
Libretti, meanwhile, spent 11 days at Richmond University Medical Center after he was shot in the leg during the bust. Pizarro was indicted on 40 counts, including one for attempted murder.
Libretti was hailed a hero for shielding fellow officers.
The defendant also stands accused of assault, attempted assault, criminal weapon possession, criminal firearm possession, reckless endangerment, and child endangerment. Pizarro, 40, had seven prior arrests in New York.
“The fact that an individual who shot an NYPD detective is walking the streets of our city is a slap in the face to every dedicated member of law enforcement,” said Paul DiGiacomo, president of the Detectives Endowment Association. “What’s more disgraceful is that former NFL player Ryan Grant funded the bail of an attempted cop-killer, drug dealer who pushes his deadly poison in our communities.”
Libretti has required extensive physical therapy and his injury is potentially career-ending.
“Even with a serious leg wound, bleeding badly enough that fellow officers had to apply immediate pressure to slow the blood loss, he held a ballistic shield in front of his team to protect them from gunfire,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said of Libretti after the shooting.
“A possibly a career-ending injury and certainly a life-threatening injury,” said NYPD Supervising Chief Surgeon Eli Kleinman at the time. “There’s no such thing as a simple gunshot wound.”
Pizarro is now home on confinement, reports the Post.
“Unfortunately the Appellate Division got this wrong and made a ruling I vigorously disagree with,” Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon said. “Pizarro’s release is an obvious example of the absurdity of Albany’s ‘protect the rights of alleged criminals and screw the victims’ approach. It’s another slap to all of our detectives, the entire NYPD, and in particular, the brave officers this defendant nearly killed while they executed a search warrant in our ongoing fight against drug dealers on Staten Island.”
Libretti recently sued the owners of the home where the raid took place, as well as Pizarro.
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