Sometimes a car stop ends with a warning or a traffic ticket, but other times cops get a whole lot more than they bargained for.
Such was the case for Police Officers Jay Richeiz and Greg Gordon in an incident that also earned the crime-busters recent “Cop of the Month” honors at the 70th Precinct.
The event unfolded at about 1 a.m., Jan. 4, when the two, who are part of the precinct’s conditions team, noticed a gray Nissan Maxima changing lanes illegally. She also saw that the vehicle had its back license plate covered.
So the two leapt into action in stopping the car. When the approached it, they noticed the front air vents were loose and two loaded ammunition magazines on the car floor.
The duo, who had affected over 90 arrests last year, collared the suspect, identified as Jason Marley.
Upon making the arrest, the auto was impounded and police obtained a search warrant where they found a loaded .9-milimeter gun in the air vent space that was loose.
While running Marley’s name in the computer, cops found he had several aliases and also ran his fingerprints.
Then on Jan. 26, police were contacted by the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where they were told Marley had been on the lam for shooting a cop in Florida in 1999. The officer was paralyzed by the shooting.
DHS transferred the suspect back to Florida where he is awaiting trial.
Richeiz and Gordon are both four-year veterans of the 70th Precinct and have also been partners for that length of time.
“My whole family are cops – my uncles, cousins and my brother is a federal officer,” said Gordon.
Gordon said when doing car stops, the two rely on their learned police tactics, and Richeiz added that the trust between Gordon and him from being partners for awhile also helps.
“There are signals that we have that nobody else knows,” he said.
Richeiz said his favorite parts of being a cop are the friends he has made at the precinct and the good people he meets in the community.
Richeiz said he got into policing after growing up in Williamsburg and witnessing drug dealers, shootings and fights.
“I stayed on the straight and narrow by going to school and playing sports,” he said.
