An NYPD public-information officer shot a driver with his service pistol and then fled in an apparent road-rage incident in south Jersey last month, authorities said.
New York City cop Hieu Tran, 27 — whose job includes snapping photos of events for the Police Department’s social media accounts — appeared grim-faced in Manhattan court Friday, where he agreed to extradition to the Garden State to face attempted-murder charges.
Tran, of Yonkers, is accused of pulling up his white SUV beside a yellow truck at an intersection in Voorhees around 11:15 p.m. May 17 and firing at it at least three times, according to authorities and a criminal complaint detailing surveillance footage from the scene.
The cop nailed the driver with at least one bullet, prompting the badly wounded man to careen through the red light and into traffic, where his truck crashed with another vehicle driven by a woman, the complaint said.
It’s not exactly clear what sparked the shooting.
He was only tracked down after detectives traced the SUV to a gas station in Mount Laurel, where Tran had bought gas for it using his credit card, the complaint said.
Cops determined he owned the white SUV, and cell-phone data also placed him along its route that night, the document said.
Then Thursday, detectives got a warrant for Tran’s NYPD-issued gun, and ballistics tied it to the three bullet casings recovered at the scene, authorities said.
The NYPD said Tran was suspended without pay.
His victim, who was critically injured, remains hospitalized, officials said. The female driver in the car that was struck by the truck suffered serious injuries, they said.
The cop was expected to be driven to New Jersey on Friday afternoon to face the music there.
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