Nab pistol-waving teen
Bronx cops wrestle ‘Dirty Harry’-size revolver away and cuff youth in deli
A pair of plainclothes NYPD cops wrestled with a customer waving around a large handgun during a wild caught-on-camera clash in a Bronx deli, the Daily News has learned.
Video acquired by The News shows the officers handcuffing the gunman and then grabbing the “Dirty Harry”-size revolver from him inside the 543 Deli on Southern Blvd. in Mott Haven about 4:40 a.m. Feb. 10.
The gunman pulled the massive pistol from his waistband and began waving it around in front of the two officers as he started to leave the store, apparently not realizing they were members of the NYPD’s Transit District 12 neighborhood safety team.
As he stepped toward the exit, one of the cops grabbed him from behind and forced him against the glass door while the other tried to handcuff the gunman’s hands behind his back, the video shows.
The 5-foot-5 120-pound gunman tried to break free but was forced against the counter and arrested, the video shows.
Cops recovered the firearm and charged Martin Mateo with criminal possession of a firearm and reckless endangerment.
Mateo lives about five blocks from the deli, police said. When questioned, he admitted to carrying the heavy-duty firearm.
“Yeah, I had the gun,” he admitted, according to court papers. “I found it four days ago and held onto it. I didn’t use it or buy it. I just found it.”
A judge ordered Mateo held on $20,000 cash bail at his Feb. 11 arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court. The Bronx district attorney’s office requested $50,000 cash and $150,000 bond, a DA spokesman said.
Mateo remained on Rikers Island Thursday awaiting his next court date.