NEW RAP IN COP SLAYING
‘Lookout’ is charged
A suspected lookout in the friendly-fire death of NYPD Detective Brian Simonsen was hit Saturday with second-degreemurder and other charges.
Jagger Freeman, 25, of Queens, was busted as an alleged accomplice to Christopher Ransom, who cops say wielded a fake gun at a Queens T-Mobile store Tuesday night, prompting officers to open fire.
Freeman was also charged with two counts of first-degree robbery and one count of second-degree robbery, along with assault and criminal possession of a gun.
His specific role in the tragedy was unclear Saturday night.
“We placed him close to the scene,” Police Commissioner James O’Neill told NY1. “It appears that he was acting as a lookout.’’
“We’re looking at some other people who might have been involved, but it’s an ongoing investigation,” he added.
Freeman has nine prior arrests and three felony convictions, sources said. He has spent three years in prison for second-degree robbery charge, getting released in 2014 and serving another year on parole.
“I didn’t do it,” he insisted to The Post outside the 107th Precinct station house, his hands bound behind his back with Simonsen’s handcuffs. Asked if he was in any way connected to the crime, he said, “No, I was not.”
Mary Freeman, who identified herself as his mom, insisted he had “nothing to do with that,’’ and called him a “good kid,” who played high school basketball and attended college for a year.
Meanwhile, Paula Cash, a professor who at the College of New Rochelle in 2015 taught Ransom, told The Post Thursday he was “detached from reality.’’
O’Neill said Saturday that Ransom’s mental health is not part of the equation.
“I’m not really concerned about his mental state,” the top cop said. “I know what he did on Tuesday night and that’s what he needs to be responsible for.”
Detectives union president Mike Palladino said, “If [Ransom] simply surrendered without incident, we wouldn’t be where we are now.”