A senior NYPD officer has apparently committed suicide at a golf course hours after he was reportedly questioned in a corruption inquiry.
Inspector Michael Ameri, 44, was found dead in his car of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound in West Babylon, Suffolk County, at lunchtime on Friday.
The NYPD Highway Patrol Unit’s commanding officer took his own life only hours after the FBI interviewed him at his home, local media report.
The investigation was focusing on an alleged gifts-for-favours scheme involving NYPD officers and influential businessmen.
Following the agents’ visit, police sources said, Mr Ameri climbed into his car, drove to the Bergen Point Golf Course about two miles from his home and took his own life.
Though his name had surfaced in an ongoing federal police corruption investigation, Mr Ameri was never disciplined.
NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis confirmed Mr Ameri “was found deceased in his vehicle of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound”.
Suffolk County police are handling the suicide investigation, he added.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has also been the focus of corruption allegations recently, said: “We are saddened to learn of the passing of Inspector Michael Ameri.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time.”
The officer joined NYPD in 1993 and was named head of the Highway Patrol after commanding a precinct in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Since March, nine NYPD police officers have either been stripped of their badges and guns or transferred as part of the corruption inquiry.
The FBI is reportedly investigating whether NYPD officers expedited pistol permits and provided highway escorts and special parking privileges for two businessmen.
The businessmen, Jeremy Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz, raised campaign money for Mayor de Blasio, according to local media.
(c) Sky News 2016
