The Brooklyn district attorney’s office will not pursue charges against a retired correction officer who followed and fatally shot a construction worker inside the Borough Hall subway station in March, after a physical dispute that began on a crowded No. 4 train.
A cellphone video recorded by an onlooker captured the moments leading up to the shooting, showing the former correction officer, William J. Groomes, 69, approaching the construction worker, Gilbert Drogheo, 32, near a mezzanine-level turnstile. The two briefly grappled, then the sound of a gunshot could be heard, sending commuters running.
The Brooklyn district attorney, Kenneth P. Thompson, said he determined after a “full and fair investigation” that criminal charges against Mr. Groomes were not warranted.
“Based on interviews of multiple eyewitnesses to the events leading up to the shooting, our review of videotapes of the shooting itself and other evidence,” Mr. Thompson said in a statement, “I have decided not to put this case into the grand jury and will not bring criminal charges against Mr. Groomes. While the death of this young man was indeed tragic, we cannot prove any charge of homicide beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Mr. Drogheo’s mother, Linda Rodriguez, said she was deeply disappointed by that conclusion, adding that Mr. Groomes, who carried a licensed 9-millimeter pistol, had followed her son, who was unarmed, apparently seeking to prolong a confrontation from which he could have retreated.
She said that at the very least the case should have been presented to a grand jury and added that she thought Mr. Groomes had received preferential treatment because he is a former law enforcement officer.
“I don’t want this to be swept under the rug,” she said by telephone on Monday morning. “One badge is protecting another.”
Peter Troxler, a lawyer representing Mr. Groomes, said his client was “very happy that the investigation was done and that the truth came out.”
The encounter between the two men began around 6 p.m. on a Brooklyn-bound No. 4 train. Mr. Drogheo and a co-worker, Joscelyn Evering, 28, were standing near a door when Mr. Groomes boarded the train at Bowling Green. Sharp words were exchanged and tempers flared. At one point, one of the two construction workers pushed Mr. Groomes onto a seat, witnesses said.
All three got off the train at Borough Hall. The video shows Mr. Groomes descending a staircase as a passer-by shouted for him not to shoot. A moment later he ascended the stairs and came face to face with Mr. Drogheo, shoving him with his left hand. The two struggled, and then a shot sounded.
After the shooting, Mr. Groomes told detectives that he had warned Mr. Evering and Mr. Drogheo that he intended to arrest them for what he described as an assault on the train. Mr. Evering was subsequently charged with assault and menacing. His lawyer has maintained that he is not guilty.
Mr. Thompson said in a phone conversation that investigators believed that Mr. Groomes had initially pursued Mr. Drogheo inside the station but had then been surprised to encounter him near the turnstile. Mr. Thompson added that the grappling depicted in the video before the shot made it impossible to show beyond a reasonable doubt whether Mr. Groomes had intentionally shot Mr. Drogheo.
Ms. Rodriguez said she called the district attorney’s office each week, asking for updates on the investigation. She added that she was tortured by the knowledge that Mr. Groomes would not face charges and by thoughts of her son’s death.
“He was a loving man with a heart of gold,” she said of Mr. Drogheo. “I’m never going to be the same.”
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