A former NYPD officer was convicted of perjury Friday for lying about the circumstances of a 2009 shooting in a trial that featured The Post’s exclusive reporting on the tall tale.
Danny Acosta was found guilty of a slew of charges in a Bronx criminal courtroom by a jury in connection to the statements he made about shooting a 17-year-old boy inside the stairwell at a Claremont public housing complex, the district attorney’s office said.
Acosta claimed for years – including to a grand jury and as part of a civil lawsuit – that teen suspect Peter Colon held a gun to his partner’s head, forcing him to open fire on Colon from 10 feet away, legal papers said.
He and his partner claimed in civil depositions that during a struggle between Acosta’s partner and Colon that the teen picked up her gun that she dropped and pressed it against her head, according to past Post reporting.
But Acosta actually shot Colon at “point-blank” range while kneeling on his back, according to court documents.
Colon was hit with assault and weapons charges, but the case fell apart after Acosta refused to testify in front of a second grand jury. Colon later got a nearly $500,000 settlement 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.
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