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The NYPD’s top cop refused to take off-topic questions during a press conference after an active-shooter drill on Sunday, despite the growing anxiety over a federal investigation into police corruption that’s already led to a suicide just days earlier.
Reporters were repeatedly told “no off-topic questions” before a press conference with Commissioner Bill Bratton at Kingsborough Community College, where the NYPD was conducting an active-shooter training exercise along with the Department of Homeland Security, FDNY and the city’s Office of Emergency Management.
It’s not uncommon for questions to be limited, but the press conference came just two days after a high ranking police officer committed suicide following a visit by FBI agents investigating incidents of police corruption within the NYPD.
On Friday, Inspector Michael Ameri, 44, was found dead inside his department-issued car from a gunshot wound to the head outside the Bergen Point Golf course in West Babylon, just a few miles from his Long Island home.
The NYPD conducted an active-shooter training exercise along with the Department of Homeland Security at Kingsborough Community College Sunday.
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FBI agents had spoken with Ameri, who was stationed in the department’s Highway Division, just one day earlier. It was Ameri’s second visit from the feds, law enforcement sources told the News.
Within hours of his death, a close friend and colleague of Ameri’s, Lt. Michael Fargo, was placed on modified duty and forced to turn in his gun and badge “out of an abundance of caution,” Lieutenants Benevolent Association boss Lou Turco said.
Some in the department feared Fargo, who was due for retirement soon, might try to hurt himself, sources said.
NYPD Deputy Inspector Michael Ameri took his own life Friday on a golf course in West Babylon, Long Island.
The corruption scandal centers around allegations that two Orthodox Jewish businessmen with ties to Mayor de Blasio gave of gifts to cops in return for preferential treatment - including police escorts and favors.
Police sources said criminal charges connected to the probe could be filed within the week and spark a major shake-up among police brass at NYPD headquarters.
rsit@nydailynews.com