A former New York State soldier was arrested and charged after being shot in the leg and wrongly announced that he was injured by an unknown shooter.
Thomas Mascia, 27, fell on the Hempstead Lake state park last year before going to a highway at Long Island and call for help, prosecutors announced on Monday.
He is also accused of having planted shell sockets on the scene where he would have shot himself.
Mascia was accused of official misconduct, falsification of evidence and falsification of documents.
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The former New York State soldier Thomas Mascia, Center, left the district court of the county of Nassau after his indictment on Monday January 27, 2025 in Hempstead, New York. (Howard Schnapp for Newsday via AP)
Mascia had been a soldier since 2019 before his resignation from force on Friday. He was suspended without salary in November after the state police launched a criminal investigation into the shooting.
His parents, Dorothy and Thomas, were also accused of criminal possession of a firearm after the caliber pistol.
The three pleaded not guilty and were released until their next hearing date, scheduled for February 5.
Prosecutors declared in court documents that Mascia fired in an apparent attempt to receive attention and sympathy.
A New York State police logo is presented on the car of a state police officer near Danmora, New York, Friday, June 12, 2015. (AP)
Nassau County District Prosecutor, Anne Donelly, said after the hearing that Mascia’s actions were “unreasonable” deception.
“He knew the fear that it creates, and he did it anyway,” she said.
A family lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman said Mascia has suffered from mental health problems not treated for years.
“There are many less serious and less dangerous ways to arouse sympathy that does not include self-shooting,” he said. “And now a whole family suffers for that as they usually do in such situations.”
Mascia said he was shot dead on October 30 by the driver of a black sedan who had been parked on the left shoulder of the Southern State Promenade.
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A New York State police vehicle. (New York / FB state police)
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He claimed that the driver fled in the direction of New York in a car with a temporary registration of New Jersey, which led the authorities to launch a man hunt that lasted several days.
Police said there were no incident video sequences because the Mascia’s body camera was not activated at the time.
The father of Mascia was dismissed from the New York Police Service in 1993 after pleading guilty to accusations of cocaine distribution.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
