Suspect in shooting of NYPD's Christopher Leap, Carl Johnson, indicted, officials say

A Manhattan man arrested last week on charges that he shot and wounded two NYPD sergeants — including one from Suffolk County — has been indicted, officials with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.

The precise charges lodged by the grand jury against Joshua Dorsett, 22, won’t be revealed until his arraignment next month, law enforcement officials said.

But it is expected that the indictment will track the charges contained in the original criminal complaint filed in the case last week, which accused Dorsett of attempted murder, assault, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon, as well as other offenses. Dorsett was ordered held without bail after this arraignment on the complaint.

According to police, on Aug. 1 Dorsett committed an armed robbery with a handgun at a mahjong parlor on Canal Street in Chinatown. A video surveillance recording of the stickup, which is referenced in the original complaint, said Dorsett had pointed a gun at numerous people in the gambling establishment and took cash from five victims before fleeing.

Patrons of the establishment later told Newsday that the parlor is often a place where Chinatown mothers go to pass the time after they drop off their children at school.

Investigators said that after 911 calls alerted police to the robbery, NYPD Sgt. Christopher Leap, of Suffolk County, and NYPD Sgt. Carl Johnson, of Queens, responded and confronted Dorsett on Eldridge Street, where the suspect began to struggle as the officers tried to handcuff him.

It was during the grappling with the officers that Dorsett took out a gray and black .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol and fired once, striking Jackson in the groin, with the same bullet grazing Leap in the leg, police officials said.

Both Leap and Jackson were treated at Bellevue Hospital. Leap was released hours after the shooting on Thursday; Jackson was released from the hospital over the weekend.

Dorsett, a reputed gang member whose last known address was at nearby Madison Street, had visited his probation officer earlier in the day on a drug case, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.

Defense attorney Bernadette Rabuy didn’t immediately return telephone calls seeking comment on Thursday. 

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.