Far Rockaway Man Pleads Guilty to Shooting Off-Duty Officer

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Chad Collie pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the shooting of an off-duty NYPD officer who he was trying to carjack. The incident took place on February 1, 2022, in Far Rockaway.

 “We will not allow our communities to devolve into a state of chaos where police officers are fired upon without consequence. The rule of law and the officers who enforce it must be respected,” District Attorney Katz said. “This case is yet another example of why we must continue doing all that we absolutely can to get guns off our streets.”

Collie, 19, of Rockaway Beach Boulevard in Far Rockaway, pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the second degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino indicated she would sentence Collie to a determinate term of 19 years in prison at sentencing on May 30.

According to the charges, on February 1, 2022, at approximately 10 p.m., Collie approached the officer’s vehicle which was stopped at a traffic light near the intersection of Beach Channel Drive and Beach 62nd Street in Arverne. Collie tapped on the driver’s side window and at gunpoint demanded that the driver, a 22-year-old off-duty NYPD officer, get out of the car. Video surveillance shows the officer exit the vehicle, and back away from Collie. At this time, Collie fired three shots at the officer, striking him once in the shoulder. The off-duty officer returned fire but missed. Collie then fled on foot from the scene. Officers spotted him and later apprehended him.