NYS police: Trooper Thomas Mascia shot on Southern State Parkway after trying to help what looked to be stranded motorist

A state trooper stopped to help what appeared to be a stranded motorist on the side of the Southern State Parkway in West Hempstead late Wednesday and was shot in the leg by a suspect who fled and remained at large, law enforcemen t officials said Thursday.

 The trooper, Thomas Mascia, 27, a Nassau County resident who has been on the force since 2019, was in stable condition after surgery Thursday at Nassau University Medical Center, according to State Police.

Mascia was "alert and conscious," Maj. Stephen Udice, who heads Farmingdale-based Troop L, where Mascia has worked for the past year, said at a news conference Thursday.

"Trooper Mascia's desire was to help someone who appeared to need assistance," Udice said. "Unfortunately, Trooper Mascia's good intentions were met with unexpected gunshots directed at him from a coward who without any provocation or good cause began to shoot at him."

Alone on patrol

Mascia was patrolling by himself on the westbound Southern State Parkway just east of Exit 17 about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday when he spotted a black sedan, believed to be a late-model Dodge Charger, parked on the median on the left side of the roadway, said State Police Superintendent Steven James.

Police said the suspect, believed to be a male, had a temporary New Jersey license plate, 997-636T, rear tinted windows and custom matte gray dual exhaust tips.

Mascia pulled up behind the sedan but when he approached the parked vehicle, "he heard several pops and realized that he was wounded in his right leg," James said. 

Multiple shots were fired through a lowered driver's side window and the trooper retreated behind his patrol vehicle as the sedan fled the scene heading west, he said. 

Mascia didn't return fire because the suspect immediately fled the scene, James said. Mascia retrieved a first aid bag, applied a tourniquet to his injured leg and called for assistance, according to the superintendent.

State Police didn’t authenticate the audio Thursday, but Newsday located on Broadcastify.com what appeared to be radio transmissions between the trooper and a police dispatcher as Wednesday’s incident unfolded. The website broadcasts audio streams of public safety radio transmissions. The audio matches details of the case State Police released Thursday.

'I'm hit'

"Shots fired, shots fired, I’m hit," the trooper said, giving his location on the parkway.

He also told the dispatcher who asked if he had any injuries that he thought his kneecap was broken and gave a description of the fleeing vehicle and its temporary tag.

"I’m bleeding pretty good in the leg," the trooper later reported. "Got a tourniquet on."

James said several other state troopers arrived on the scene and took Mascia, who suffered a .22-caliber gunshot wound to his right quadriceps near his knee, to the hospital.

"Someone who is willing to fire a gun at a law enforcement officer is most certainly a dangerous individual," James said. "So in order to ensure the safety of the public, we would like to get that person in custody as soon as possible."

Police did not identify the type of gun used in the shooting.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect, according to police.

There was no body-worn camera footage of the shooting because Mascia's camera wasn't activated until he pulled his gun from his holster after realizing he had been shot, James said.

The trooper's mother, Dorothy Mascia, 55, told Newsday on Thursday her son had wanted to be a police officer since he was young.

"He always wanted to make the community safer and felt that as a police officer, he’d be able to make a difference," she said. "Being called by the NYSP, he felt that there was no finer agency to be a part of."

Award recipient

Dorothy Mascia also said her son has received awards for drunken-driving enforcement and is an academy training officer, a speed enforcement instructor and a drug recognition expert.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman spoke to reporters at NUMC on Thursday morning after Mascia came out of surgery. He said the trooper's parents and girlfriend were at the hospital.

"We take care of own here in Nassau County. But the state troopers are doing a magnificent job," Blakeman said of support for the trooper's family.

Mascia previously was injured on the job in 2022, when he was struck by a vehicle while clearing tire debris on Interstate 95 near Port Chester, according to State Police officials. They said he was treated at a hospital then for non-life-threatening injuries and the vehicle didn't stop and wasn't identified.

Authorities have asked anyone with information about Wednesday's shooting to call State Police at 631-756-3300.

"We will aggressively pursue every lead with the full intention of identifying, locating and apprehending the suspect responsible for this cowardly act," Udice said Thursday.