Justice in war on cops
Indictments for Bronx police-shooting duo
A Bronx grand jury handed up indictments against the two men charged with sticking up a bodega before opening fire on two cops, while a lawyer for one of the men insisted his client had no involvement in the shooting.
Accused copshooter Jason Polanco, 24, was indicted on two felony attemptedmurder raps that could put him behind bars for life, and career criminal Joshua Kemp, 28, was indicted on charges including robbery as his accomplice, the Bronx district attorney announced Monday.
“My client is not charged with that serious matter, the attempted murder of the police officers,” Kemp’s attorney, Michael Raskin, said outside court. “He had nothing to do with it and the District Attorney’s Office recognizes that. They haven’t charged him and he won’t be charged with that.”
Raskin even made sure to clarify that Kemp and Polanco aren’t even good friends. “They’re not family,” he said. The date for the Supreme Court arraignments of both men was set for March 3 in a brief court proceeding Monday.
Polanco and Kemp both stormed the Welcome 2 Yemen deli on Jan. 5, but while Kemp jumped over the counter to empty the cash register, Polanco wielded a .44 Magnum, police have said. He later used the highpowered handgun to blast two cops at a Chinese takeout joint, authorities charge.
Polanco’s defense attorney, Joel Peister, said after court his client “seems fine” and noted the dozen family members that came out to support him.
“This is not a street kid,” Peister said. “This is a kid with no criminal record, who’s a highschool graduate, served in the United States Marines.”
Polanco is accused of shooting Officers Andrew Dossi, 30, and Aliro Pellerano, 38, wildly blasting through the window of the Chinese restaurant before running outside and shooting the two cops as they tried to approach him.
Dossi was initially treated at St. Barnabas Hospital in The Bronx but was transferred to Mt. Sinai in Manhattan for operations on his arm. Pellerano was released from St. Barnabas in a wheelchair last week — to applause from gathered cops.
Kemp is a parolee with 10 robbery arrests, while Polanco has repeatedly ranted online against cops, including posting an altered copy of Norman Rockwell’s famed 1936 painting “Tom Sawyer Whitewashing the Fence” with the words “FK THE POLICE” in huge black letters.