{"id":362513,"date":"2021-11-04T22:52:20","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T19:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/nyc-ghost-gun-case-in-jeopardy-over-search-da-brawl-sources\/"},"modified":"2021-11-04T22:52:20","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T19:52:20","slug":"nyc-ghost-gun-case-in-jeopardy-over-search-da-brawl-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/nyc-ghost-gun-case-in-jeopardy-over-search-da-brawl-sources\/","title":{"rendered":"#NYC &#8216;ghost gun&#8217; case in jeopardy over search, DA brawl: sources"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#NYC &#8216;ghost gun&#8217; case in jeopardy over search, DA brawl: sources<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n        <\/aside>\n<p>A major Queens gun bust could be in jeopardy over an allegedly shady car search \u2014 that left two District Attorney\u2019s Office investigators in fisticuffs over the issue, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n<p>The fallout over last month\u2019s brawl during the \u201cghost gun\u201d arrest of MTA bus driver Jonathan Santos even cost the Queens DA\u2019s Office\u2019s top investigator his job because DA Melinda Katz was kept in the dark about the fight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe does not want to be embarrassed and she was mad that she wasn\u2019t told about this,\u201d one source told The Post. \u201cShe was mad they hid it from her. The [assistant DA] also didn\u2019t tell her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The controversy stems from Santos\u2019 Oct. 18 arrest outside his Richmond Hill home, when investigators from the DA\u2019s office reported seeing the 36-year-old bus driver allegedly loading weapons into the back of his white Chrysler 300.<\/p>\n<p>Santos was charged with possessing an \u201carsenal\u201d of weapons and ammunition \u2014 including several ghost guns and an assault rifle, Katz trumpeted at <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/queensda.org\/queens-man-charged-with-possessing-arsenal-of-illegal-ghost-guns\/\">an Oct. 21 press conference<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>He was sl<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ed with a 252-count complaint and faces up to 30 years in prison, if convicted, prosecutors said at the time.<\/p>\n<p>But defense attorney John Mure raised questions about the car search \u2014 and whether there was enough probable cause \u2014 at his client\u2019s arraignment in Queens Criminal Court.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/queens-ghost-gun-jonathan-santos-01-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024\" alt=\"Two District Attorney's Office investigators got into a fist fight over the search of Santos' vehicle.\" class=\"wp-image-20035775\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/queens-ghost-gun-jonathan-santos-01-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/queens-ghost-gun-jonathan-santos-01-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/queens-ghost-gun-jonathan-santos-01-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Two District Attorney\u2019s Office investigators got into a fistfight over the search of Santos\u2019 vehicle.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Queens DA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI got a problem with the stop, Judge,\u201d Mure told Judge Edwin Novillo, according to a transcript of the Oct. 20 court proceeding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccording to the complaint, it appears as though there\u2019s an investigator with the DA\u2019s office that actually observes my client with a garage door open and the back of his car backed to that garage door,\u201d the lawyer said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnsure exactly where this investigator actually is or what he actually sees, but at best, Judge, he sees my client loading something into the car,\u201d Mure said. \u201cHe sees some sort of bag. That bag could have been almost anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The investigators followed Santos\u2019 vehicle and pulled him over after a few miles \u2014 before coming to blows with one another over the search, the lawyer said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThis is the part that baffles me, Judge,\u201d he continued, according to court records. \u201cThere\u2019s no vehicle and traffic law violations, but a lieutenant actually shows up at the scene. The lieutenant and the detective get into a major argument.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mure explained, \u201cMy client can\u2019t hear everything but they\u2019re talking about going into that trunk, throughout the search of the trunk about going into the vehicle and they actually began to argue and they get into a fistfight over the search of the vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that \u201cit appears as though the fight where the lieutenant may have had some bruises. They talk about locking each other up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mure told The Post this week, \u201cIt seems the argument was over the search. One wanted to do the search and the other wanted to wait for a search warrant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other sources told The Post the beef was over the lieutenant\u2019s insistence on waiting for backup officers to arrive that day.<\/p>\n<p>Queens Assistant District Attorney Ajay Chheda defended the search in court, saying the investigators who did the surveillance on Santos recognized the bag he loaded into the car as a \u201clarge case\u201d typically \u201cused to transport and store these firearms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But neither Chheda or Novillo addressed the fight between the cops. <\/p>\n<p>Katz \u201chit the roof\u201d when she found out about the altercation \u2014 and forced her lead investigator, Edwin Murphy, to resign.<\/p>\n<p>Murphy was recruited by Katz in 2019 and was not involved in the actual fight. He could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The Queens DA\u2019s Office did not comment on the circumstances surrounding Santos\u2019 case, other than to acknowledge that Murphy had stepped down as chief investigator.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDA Katz appreciates the contributions he made to the office during the past two years and wishes him well in his future endeavors,\u201d the office said in a statement.<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/11\/04\/queens-ghost-gun-case-in-possible-jeopardy-over-search-that-led-to-cop-brawl-sources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#NYC &#8216;ghost gun&#8217; case in jeopardy over search, DA brawl: sources&#8221; A major Queens gun bust could be in jeopardy over an allegedly shady car search \u2014 that left two District Attorney\u2019s Office investigators in fisticuffs over the issue, The Post has learned. The fallout over last month\u2019s brawl during the \u201cghost gun\u201d arrest of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":362514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/11\/queens-ghost-gun-jonathan-santos-02.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[118461,61594,61625,93883,11247,83371],"class_list":["post-362513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-11-4-21","tag-exclusive","tag-guns","tag-melinda-katz","tag-queens","tag-search-warrant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}