SCDA: ‘Tip Top Boyz’ Gang Member Indicted for Shooting Suffolk Police Officer; Arraignment Today, in Riverhead

LONG ISLAND, NY – A grand jury has indicted the 22-year old Huntington Station street gang member arrested last week for shooting a plainclothes officer assigned to the Suffolk police department’s Gang Unit, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

The arraignment of suspect Sheldon Leftenant, currently incarcerated without bail in the county jail, is scheduled for today, Friday, March 20, 2015 at noon in the Riverhead criminal courthouse. After the arraignment District Attorney Spota will release new information regarding the violent struggle that resulted in the wounding of Officer Collins. The briefing will be held on the third floor of the courthouse.

State Supreme Court Justice John Collins will unseal Leftenant’s indictment. The defendant, a member of a gang called the “Tip Top Boyz”, is charged with Attempted Aggravated Murder and Resisting Arrest.

Sheldon Leftenant, 22, of Huntington, was arrested an hour after the shooting. His handgun was recovered by police from a backyard near the scene of the crime. The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Photo SCPD.

Mark Collins, the wounded officer who is a decorated 12-year veteran of the Suffolk PD was released from the hospital last Sunday and is undergoing physical therapy. Officer Collins is recovering from gunshot wounds in his neck and hip.

Leftenant, of Huntington Station, was arrested an hour after the shooting. His handgun was recovered by police from a backyard near the scene of the crime.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Defendants are entitled to a fair trial with the burden on the prosecution to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.