A career thug who shot an off-duty NYPD detective in the back during an argument over a parking lot fender bender will spend 13 ½ years in prison after pleading guilty today to attempted murder.
Samuel Ventura, 25, meekly admitted in Bronx Criminal Court that he fired the bullet that struck Bronx Narcotics Det. Richard Olmo, 46, after a Dec. 12, 2010 dispute in the parking lot of the Pelham Bay Diner.
Olmo, who sat in court several feet away from Ventura’s crying family members, shook hands with other detectives after Ventura agreed to plead guilty before Justice Patricia DiMango.
“It’s just another Bronx tragedy — nobody wins,” he said. “But I’m alive.”
The 5 a.m. gunplay erupted after a man driving the car Ventura was riding in smacked into the parked car belonging to Olmo’s pals. Trying to play peacemaker the detective identified himself as a cop but that didn’t stop Ventura from opening fire.
Ventura, who at the time was free on $5,000 bail for a July 5, 2010 robbery indictment, was nabbed two days later in Waterbury, Conn. As part of the deal, Ventura also pled to the robbery charge. He faced up to 25 years if convicted at trial.
He will be sentenced March 22nd.