In February, the NYPD held a midnight vigil on the 35th anniversary of the assassination of rookie cop Eddie Byrne. One of his killers will go free next month.
Photo by Bruce Adler
South Queens lawmakers, police union leaders, and a former NYPD detective who is campaigning to unseat disgraced Congressman George Santos are all expressing outrage after Scott Cobb, the getaway driver in the 1988 assassination of rookie cop Eddie Byrne, was granted parole on July 26. Cobb, 60, has served 34 years of his sentence and is scheduled to be released from the Clinton Correctional Center in upstate Dannemora on Aug. 8.
“At a time when criminals feel it’s open season on the NYPD, this tone-deaf decision by the parole board sends the wrong message to violent offenders,” Councilwoman Joann Ariola said. “Scott Cobb took part in the planned, pre-meditated murder of a New York City police officer, and as a result, he should never step foot outside of a prison again. The decision to allow him to rejoin society is not only a slap in the face to our system of law and order and to every member of law enforcement, but it’s an affront to the family of PO Byrne as well. The parole board’s decision will force PO Byrne’s loved ones to relive the pain and the trauma of their loss, and that is completely unacceptable.”
In the early morning hours of Feb. 26, 1988, Byrne was in uniform in a marked patrol car protecting a witness whose home had twice been firebombed to discourage him from testifying against drug kingpin Howard “Pappy” Mason. Cobb was convicted, along with three other assassins — David McClary, Todd Scott and Phillip Copeland — who acted in concert to carry out Mason’s orders to kill a police officer and send “a message to the cops” that his imprisonment would bring retaliation on the streets of southeast Queens.
Cobb was found guilty of being the squad’s wheelman, driving the hitman to the scene at the corner of Inwood Street and 107th…
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