MAN SLAIN BY DRUG COP UNARMED OFF-DUTY GUARD IS KILLED IN SCUFFLE

A grand jury is probing the fatal shooting of an unarmed off-duty
security guard by an undercover cop during a scuffle outside a midtown
cocktail lounge early yesterday, officials said.

Patrick Dorismond, 26, a father of two who lived in East Flatbush,
Brooklyn, was shot once in the chest by Detective Anthony Vasquez
during a buy-and-bust drug operation on Eighth Ave. near 37th St.,
police said.

Vasquez, 29, was placed on desk duty pending the outcome of a grand
jury investigation announced by the Manhattan district attorney's
office hours after the shooting. Vasquez has not spoken with
investigators.

Dorismond, 26, worked for the 34th St. Partnership as a uniformed
security guard and told his family he hoped one day to become a police
officer.

Police Commissioner Howard Safir took the unusual step of revealing
that Dorismond had been arrested as a juvenile and again as an adult
in 1993 and 1996. He was given conditional discharges for the adult
arrests, which were on charges of disorderly conduct and fourth-degree
weapons possession, records show.

Safir portrayed Dorismond as the aggressor in a confusing
confrontation with cops. "Mr. Dorismond attacked the undercover
officer," he said.

As Mayor Giuliani urged New Yorkers "not to jump to conclusions," some
who knew Dorismond suggested he had been stopped simply because he was
black.

"Another unarmed black man, it could have been my brother," said Ena
Tucker, who worked with Dorismond at the 34th St. Partnership.

"The police will say it was an accident, their supporters will say it
was a tragedy, and the police will go unpunished again," Dorismond's
mother, Marie, cried, referring to the acquittal of four cops in the
Amadou Diallo shooting.

The tragedy unfolded just after midnight on the warm evening as
Dorismond and a friend stood outside the bar.

The corner -- called a hangout for members of the Bloods gang who deal
drugs -- was targeted by cops working overtime as part of the NYPD's
Operation Condor anti-drug initiative, police sources said.

A police source said Vasquez was acting as the "ghost" of undercover
Detective Anderson Moran, who would approach suspected drug dealers
and buy marijuana. They had made eight arrests, and Vasquez's partner
wanted to make it an even 10, the source said. "Let me see if I can
make another collar," Moran said, according to the source.

While Vasquez waited, Moran approached Dorismond and asked him where
he could score some dope, the source said.

Dorismond, the source said, yelled at the officer to get away from
him. "Relax," Moran said, the source said. "Forget about it."

Police said Dorismond threw a punch at the cop. But Dorismond's friend
has told the district attorney's office that the undercover cop threw
a punch at Dorismond.

As the arguing escalated, Moran was heard saying over his transmitter,
"What are you going to do, rob me?" -- police code for, "I need help."

Vasquez sprang into action, gun drawn, the source said.

"Get the gun!" Dorismond's pal yelled, apparently unaware that Vasquez
was a police officer.

Safir said there was one discharge of Vasquez's firearm as the four
men scuffled on the street. He said he did not know why Moran chose to
approach Dorismond.

The shot struck Dorismond in the chest, just below his left
collarbone. At least one witness told cops they believed Vasquez
struck Dorismond with his pistol, causing it to go off, sources said.
But the city medical examiner found no evidence the dead man had been
beaten, according to the sources.

Catalino Solano, 25, and three friends were walking toward the bar
when they saw four men scuffling on the sidewalk. Then a black
sport-utility vehicle came to a stop in front of the club and four
more men scrambled out, he said.

"I heard, "Hands on the wall!" or "Get on the floor!" said Solano.
Then he heard the shot.

"It was one second, maybe," Solano said. "They got out of the car and
then a boom and that's it."

He said Dorismond slumped against the red stone siding of the bar.
Cops, he added, "threw me on the floor because they thought I had a
gun."

Vasquez's attorney defended the cop. "It's a tragic accidental
shooting precipitated by the deceased lunging for the gun after
Detective Vasquez identified himself," said Philip Karasyk.

Vasquez, a cop for five years, has shot his gun before, according to a
police source. While a recruit, he killed a Rottweiler that was
menacing his family. In 1997, Vasquez was arrested in Pennsylvania
after he drew a weapon to break up a fight; he then was placed on
modified duty.

That same year, Vasquez's wife accused him of domestic abuse, but her
allegations were deemed unsubstantiated.

With Michele McPhee, Barbara Ross and Roberto Santiago