Charges Filed Against Co-Worker of Man Shot by Ex-Cop in Subway Station

By GABRIELA LIRA

A trial date for next month was set on Thursday in the case of a Brooklyn man charged with assault in an incident that climaxed in the fatal shooting of his co-worker by a former police officer after the two men allegedly harassed the officer on a subway.

Joscelyn Evering, 28, was charged in Brooklyn Supreme Court with assault and menacing of William J. Groomes, 69, after an altercation that climaxed in the death of Gilbert Drogheo, 32, shot – allegedly in self-defense – by Groomes in the thronged Borough Hall subway station last week.

Groomes told investigators that Evering and Drogheo tried to assault him on the on the No 4 train on March 10^th. The former officer advised the two men to calm down or he would arrest them. The confrontation escalated to a physical confrontation that ended with the shooting.

The former officer was released without charges. However, Evering was expected to face trial for misdemeanor assault, misdemeanor attempted assault, menacing and harassment.

Records showed that Drogheo had 23 arrests since he was 12 years old for such crimes as robbery, assault and drug possession. At his death he was on probation in New Jersey for punching and threatening a woman last May.