A Manhattan parking attendant who was originally charged with attempted murder for shooting a suspected armed robber lamented as he stood handcuffed to his hospital bed, shocked by his fate after the fact.
“I got bullets in me and I’m chained to a hospital bed, but I didn’t do anything wrong,” Moussa Diarra, 57, said, according to Meyers Parking director of operations Michael Carolan.
The man was struck with two shots during an altercation with an alleged robber, identified as Charles Rhodie, in the Carolan’s West 31st Street garage Saturday morning before using the criminal’s weapon to fire back.
Diarra was initially charged by officials in the case, including with criminal possession of a weapon for having Rhodie’s gun at one point, however, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will not charge him. Although he still faces charges that include attempted murder.
Before Diarra was acquitted, he looked very sad in a photo at Bellevue Hospital obtained by the New York Post.
“I can’t necessarily understand the legal process of charging someone and having to spend 48 hours for his family and himself,” Carolan said.
“Here is a gentleman who is just a hard-working person doing his job,” he said of Diarra. “You just think you’re doing the right thing. The altercation occurs because of the other individual, not our guy. He is reacting.”
Diarra was working in the parking lot at 5:30 a.m. Saturday when he allegedly caught Rhodie, 59, peering into parked vehicles, the New York Post reported.
The worker confronted the suspect and the two, at one point Rhodie pulled out a firearm and shot Diarra twice, only for the man to snatch the gun away and fire a single shot into the suspected robber’s chest, the police said. police.
The employee underwent surgery for the two gunshot wounds, one lodged in the stomach and the other in the ear, said his attorney, Charles Clayman.
The officers ended up charging the two men with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon, leaving Diarra not only badly injured but bewildered.
The handcuffs were removed on Sunday after Bragg’s office announced it was declining to prosecute pending further investigation.
“I understand that you saw [Rhodie] between vehicles,” Carolan said. “So, they took him downstairs, and there was a conversation about a bag and they wanted to make sure he didn’t take anything with him while he was there for that brief time.”
“He pulled out a gun, and flight or fight [de Diarra] activated,” he declared. “I’m sure he was nervous, he panicked and he reacted.”
Keep reading:
- Wild fight between Hispanics for parking space: victim remains hospitalized after batting, stabbing and kicking in Queens, New York
- Carjacking in Queens leaves man in a coma as police search for third suspect
- Hispanic ex-con arrested for shooting and robbery at jewelry store in broad daylight in New York