Ex-NYPD officer going to prison on gun charge

A Nassau judge sentenced a former NYPD officer to prison Thursday for firing a pistol into the ocean in Long Beach while a chokehold case was pending against him that barred him from having guns.

David Afanador, 41, surrendered in Nassau County Court to begin a sentence of 1 and 1/3 to 4 years in prison after admitting to criminally possessing a firearm.

“It’s only a miracle that no one was physically injured as a result of your behavior,” Acting State Supreme Court Justice Robert Bogle told him.

He called Afanador’s actions “a serious breach of trust” as a police officer, saying an addiction that a lawyer for the defendant spoke of wasn’t an excuse.

Afanador told the judge he regretted his actions and was ready to pay the price.

“It was the absolute greatest honor of my life to serve the people of the City of New York for 16 years … I am deeply sorry for the offense that I committed and I stand ready to accept punishment for that," he said.

At the time of his crime, Afanador had strangulation and attempted strangulation charges pending against him for allegedly using a chokehold during an arrest he made in Far Rockaway in June 2020.

Afanador captured news headlines then for reportedly being the first officer arrested for such an offense in the wake of a new law.

The Far Rockaway encounter, recorded by bystander video and police body cameras, happened about two weeks after legislation went into effect making it a crime for an officer to use a chokehold in a way that causes serious injury or death.

It was part of police reform bills that became law in New York following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis amid a nationwide outcry against police brutality.

 The law, known as the "Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act," is named for a Staten Island man who died in 2014 after pleading that he couldn't breathe after an NYPD officer used a chokehold on him. 

In September 2021, a Queens grand jury declined to indict Afanador in the Far Rockaway case. It wasn't the first time Afanador beat criminal charges as a cop.

A Brooklyn judge in 2016 acquitted him after his 2014 arrest for allegedly pistol-whipping a teenage drug suspect, according to Afanador's former attorney, Stephen Worth.

Afanador resigned from the NYPD after his Long Beach arrest, his attorney, Edward Sapone, said Thursday.

Authorities said that crime happened at about 6:50 a.m. on March 21, 2021.

Nassau prosecutors said Afanador was holding an open can of spiked seltzer and had a 9 mm Beretta pistol in a holster and two loaded magazines when Long Beach police responded to a report of several gunshots near Franklin Boulevard and the ocean.

Afanador, who had three people with him, gave police his driver's license and an NYPD Officer Identification card that was marked "No Firearms," according to the Nassau District Attorney's Office.

 Law enforcement officials recovered seven spent 9 mm shell casings from the sand around Afanador, arresting him and a Long Beach woman whose case remains pending. 

Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement Thursday that Afanador knew he couldn't have a gun, "but still made the decision to drink with friends on a beach and recklessly fire a loaded gun several times into the ocean."

Defense attorney Greg Zak, who represented Afanador at sentencing, told the judge Afanador has an alcohol addiction and in May 2021 checked into a rehab facility for more than a month.

Zak said Afanador has struggled with the addiction for many years and it played "a big part" in his crime.

 Sapone said in a statement later Thursday that Afanador was "grateful to have resolved this case with a non-violent offense."

He added that the ex-officer is hoping to participate in prison programs that will let him return home early "so he can start the next chapter of his life."