Gary Worthy, the alleged career criminal who shot a police officer in Queens.
Obtained by amNewYork Metro
The hero cop who was shot after a shootout with an armed robber on lifetime parole was released from hospital Wednesday as the suspect’s 42-year criminal history came to light.
NYPD Police Officer Rich Wong waved as he was wheeled out of Jamaica Hospital on Nov. 20. Wong, a seven-year veteran of the force who is currently assigned to 103rd Precinct, suffered a gunshot wound to the thigh on Tuesday night on Jamaica Avenue and 161st Street in Queens after attempting to stop 57-year-old Gary Worthy during the robbery of a bodega.
Worthy, who police say was a career criminal and on lifetime parole, opened fire inside the bodega and on the street, during which a female bystander was also injured. Wong shot Worthy in the face, killing him.
Yet one question lingered among the cops and police union leaders who greeted Wong as he left the hospital Wednesday afternoon: Why was Worthy out on the streets at all that fateful Tuesday night?
According to sources familiar with Worthy’s record, the suspect has been arrested 23 times dating back to the early 1980s, including 17 times on felony charges.
Six days before Tuesday’s shooting, Worthy was in a Queens Criminal Courtroom for arraignment on charges of drug possession and resisting arrest — yet was nonetheless released from custody without bail. The Queens District Attorney’s office said those offenses did not make him eligible to be held on bail.
“The cops are doing their jobs, why wasn’t this career criminal behind bars?” PBA President Patrick Hendry said after his fellow cops gave Wong a rousing round of applause. “Wong wants to get back to work serving the community, but he has a long road to recovery. The justice system is failing us. He [Worthy] should have been locked up after 6 or 7 arrests.”
On March 8, 1988, in the confines of the 103rd Precinct, the…
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