Far Rockaway Man Gets 19 Years for Shooting Officer

On Tuesday, May 30, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Chad Collie was sentenced to 19 years in prison for attempted murder in the shooting of an off-duty NYPD officer whom he was trying to carjack in Far Rockaway last year.

 “This type of lawlessness has no place in our communities, and we have made sure that a dangerous man will serve a long prison sentence,” District Attorney Katz said. “We will not let up in our efforts to get guns off our streets.”

Collie, 20, of Rockaway Beach Boulevard in Far Rockaway, pleaded guilty last month to attempted murder in the second degree. On Tuesday, Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino imposed the determinate sentence of 19 years in prison, to be followed by five years post-release supervision.

On February 1, 2022, at approximately 10 p.m., Collie approached the officer’s vehicle, which was stopped at a traffic light near the intersection of Beach Channel Drive and Beach 62nd Street in Arverne. Collie tapped on the driver’s side window and, at gunpoint, demanded that the driver, a 22-year-old off-duty NYPD officer, get out.

Video surveillance shows the officer exit the vehicle. Collie fired three shots at the officer, striking him once in the shoulder. The off-duty officer returned fire, but missed Collie, who then fled on foot. Nearby uniformed officers in an unmarked police vehicle spotted Collie on Beach 62nd Street. They followed him to Beach Channel Drive and Beach 59th Street, stopped a few feet in front of him, and exited their vehicle. Collie fired a shot at them, hitting the rear of their car. He then tossed the gun and ran. The uniformed officers apprehended him a short time later. The officer was treated for his injuries.