An off-duty NYPD officer moonlighting as a Fairway security guard was arrested yesterday for assaulting a customer, becoming the seventh department employee to be busted since Friday, authorities said.
Paule Rivera, 35, allegedly got into the physical confrontation with the 44-year-old customer at the store on 12th Avenue in Harlem at around 12:50 a.m.
A store worker said he was told Rivera, who was working security, was eyeing two youths who had entered around closing time.
When Rivera asked them to leave, a male customer intervened and told him to leave them alone, according to the worker.
Rivera then allegedly touched the customer on the arm to direct him out of the store, setting off the tussle, according to the worker.
Rivera was charged with assault, and later released on a desk-appearance ticket. The customer was not charged.
Rivera had a cast on his right wrist when a reporter contacted him at his home, and confirmed the injury stemmed from the fight. He declined to comment on what led to the fight.
The NYPD has suspended him without pay.
Before Rivera’s arrest, four cops and two civilian NYPD employees had been busted since Friday for a variety of offenses, including DWI.