Rockland dad of wounded NYPD cop fears for son's future
- NYPD cops shot hail from Stony Point%2C Garnerville
- Officer Andrew Dossi shot in forearm%2C back
- Also shot was Officer Aliro Pellerano of Garnerville.
STONY POINT – Joseph Dossi worried Tuesday about his son's future after the 30-year-old NYPD officer was shot while trying to arrest two robbers.
Officer Andrew Dossi, a veteran of two Army tours in Iraq, was shot in the arm and back Monday while working in plainclothes with Officer Aliro Pellerano, 38, of Garnerville. Dossi underwent surgery on his arm, which was shattered by a bullet, and remains in a Bronx hospital.
"He's groggy, in a bunch of pain," his father said. "He didn't look too swift. It looked like they put some pins in his arm. It looked pretty nasty."
He said his son was sitting up and starting to eat but remained uncomfortable after surgery.
Police said Tuesday that Jason Polanco and Joshua Kemp were in custody in the shooting of Dossi and Pellerano, who was wounded in the arm and abdomen. Both officers are in stable condition, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said. The shooting occurred near East 184th Street in the Bronx's Tremont section. The officers were going off duty when they responded to a grocery store robbery call, police said.
Dossi, who lives with his parents in Stony Point, is expected to recover but his father doesn't know what the future holds for his son in the military or the NYPD. He knows his son will want to continue with both, if he's able.
"He's a patriotic type of guy," Joseph Dossi said. "Besides the Army, he was airborne, jumping and rappelling out of a helicopter. He came up through the ranks. He's now a staff sergeant. He was supposed to go to Africa next week. I guess that's off."
He said his son and Pellerano carpool to work.
Andrew Dossi is not married but has an 8-year-old daughter, who was to visit him Tuesday. His mother, Gail, is at his side at the hospital.
"She took it hard when we got the call," Joseph Dossi said of his wife.
His son graduated from North Rockland High School and Rockland Community College. He has been with the NYPD for eight years, his father said, and in the military for a decade. Dossi had served as a military policeman at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He now serves with the Army Reserve's 306th Military Police Battalion of the 18th MP Brigade, based on Long Island.
"We're proud of him, and we get concerned," Joseph Dossi said. "He does anti-crime type stuff. He had an arrest of a guy with a gun last week. It's going to be a shame he can't do what he likes."
Asked about the rift between some NYPD officers and Mayor Bill de Blasio, Joseph Dossi said the mayor's comments may have been taken out of context.
"It's a shame the way it just blew up sort of out of proportion," he said. "But I am sure all of these guys who are in the street dealing with bad people all the time, maybe the mayor should have been on their side more."
He said hearing people bashing police officers makes him feel "kind of crummy."
"You know, most people, if they heard a gunshot what do they do? They duck or they run," he said. "These guys don't do that. ... People might say, 'Oh, that's their job' – but it's not just their job, they're doing it because they want to do it. They want to protect people."
Members of Pellerano's family shoveling the walkway at his Garnerville home Tuesday declined comment but said they were preparing for his return home, possibly Wednesday. A neighbor, Marty Salvato, 72, said Pellerano has a wife, Lily, two daughters and a son. She described him as quiet and laid back.
"He's a wonderful father, he's a wonderful husband, he is really dedicated to his job," she said, calling his children well-behaved. She said he didn't talk about his work.
"This is ridiculous, what's going on," she said with tears in her eyes.
Salvato, who said she formerly was married to a police officer, had spoken to Pellerano after two NYPD officers were shot and killed in Brooklyn in late December. She said she begged Pellerano, "Whatever you do, be careful."