An NYPD detective who survived a near-deadly Florida shooting last year was arrested in Manhattan yesterday for allegedly beating up cops who pulled him over for suspected DWI.
Detective Harold Thomas, a 28-year veteran and member of the Joint Terrorist Task Force, had the DWI rap against him dropped last night but is still charged with assault and resisting arrest in the Washington Heights incident, which occurred just before 1 a.m.
Thomas’ lawyer, James Moschella, called the cop “a hero police officer,’’ adding, “I’m confident the DA will see [he] should never have been charged.’’
Sources close to Thomas said he insists it was he who was badly beaten by cops after he refused a breath test at the scene.
They said Thomas, 49, had been leaving a Dominican Day Parade party with one of his adult sons when he was approached near his parked white Cadillac Escalade by two patrol cops who were looking for a similar SUV involved in an earlier shooting. When a third officer joined the group, “there was some sort of hassle,” a source said.
Thomas “clearly identified himself as a cop,’’ Moschella said.
He was freed without bail.
Thomas made headlines in 2011 when he was shot battling with thieves during a Miami vacation.