A former officer of the NYPD was convicted of perjury on Friday, following false testimony regarding a 2009 shooting incident. The trial, which prominently featured exclusive reports by The Post, revealed the fabricated nature of his account.
Danny Acosta was found guilty on numerous charges by a jury in a Bronx courtroom. These charges were linked to the false claims he made about shooting a 17-year-old boy at a Claremont public housing complex, as stated by the district attorney’s office.
For years, Acosta maintained—both to a grand jury and during a civil lawsuit—that the teenager, Peter Colon, had threatened his partner with a gun, prompting him to fire at Colon from a distance of 10 feet, according to legal documents.
Both Acosta and his partner alleged in civil depositions that during a scuffle, Colon had picked up a weapon dropped by Acosta’s partner and pressed it to her head, a claim previously reported by The Post.
However, court records later revealed that Acosta had actually shot Colon at “point-blank” range while kneeling on his back.
Initially, Colon faced charges of assault and weapons possession, but the case unraveled when Acosta declined to testify before a second grand jury. Eventually, Colon received a settlement of nearly $500,000 from the city.
The web of lies unraveled when Acosta admitted his fibs to a city Law Department lawyer under the assumption the confession was attorney-client privilege, court papers stated.
But he was wrong, and the lawyer reported the comments to the NYPD.
Acosta, in a 2021 interview with Post reporter Craig McCarthy, claimed the city lawyer “f—ked me.”
“This f–king guy calls me, says, ‘I’m not going to release what we talk about here,’ and the first thing he did was tell the job,” Acosta railed to McCarthy, who exclusively uncovered the legal turmoil.
Acosta, who was only fired in 2021, was indicted in 2018, but his first trial ended in a mistrial.
McCarthy took the stand during a second trial on April 13 and 14 on behalf of the prosecution to recall his conversation with the police officer.
He was convicted of four counts of first-degree perjury, one count of first-degree tampering with public records and two counts of official misconduct, the district attorney’s office said.
Acosta’s lawyer did not return a phone call seeking comment about the conviction.
Bronx prosecutors sought remand for Acosta following the guilty verdict because he could get a prison term, but the judge allowed him to be free pending sentencing, according to a district attorney spokesperson.
His sentencing is set for June 8.
