Yesterday we broke the story about the armed NYPD officer who was recently disciplined for sleeping on the subway. Today the tabloids follow up (no mention that Gothamist reported it first, of course) with quotes from the officer, who has been identified as Matthew Sobota, a mounted police officer who lives on Staten Island. Approached last night outside his home, he admitted that he got in trouble after a straphanger reported his subway slumbers.
Sobota blamed his catnap on all the overtime he's been clocking. "I was tired," he tells the Daily News. "I worked multiple tours. I was not supposed to do what I did. I’m a little down about it. I’m allowed to sit down, but not to close my eyes." Police sources tell the Post Sobota was off duty but headed to do paid security work sanctioned by the NYPD. A 20-year veteran of the NYPD, Sobota shot and wounded "a crazed man with a history of attacking cops after the lunatic was caught vandalizing a police cruiser," according to the Post.
Martin Bisi, the recording engineer who took the incriminating photos, has no regrets, despite making poor Officer Sobota feel down in the dumps. Bisi tells the News, "I thought maybe a teenager could take (Sobota’s) gun and sell it or use it. I felt like it was a potentially unsafe thing." Also unsafe? Publicly shaming a police officer. Over on the NYPD Rant message board, the cops have already posted Bisi's possible address and other info. And one commenter says merely, "I am really starting to hate anyone thats [sic] not a Cop."
