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PBA members who gathered at the Pines Manor in Edison on Saturday cited Mazur for his bravery in helping protect the lives of his fellow officers while on loan to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Narcotic Task Force.
The 10-year veteran was sitting in the driver’s seat of a county undercover vehicle with one of the targets for what was supposed to be a $400 pot buy on April 22 when Rafael Vasquez walked up to the car window and pointed a gun at him, authorities said.
“Give me everything you have,” Vasquez told Mazur before firing into the car twice, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said at the time.
Seven backup officers then converged on the car, shooting Vasquez in the arm and leg.
Molinelli said he believes the trio set up the officer, who they thought was a local pot dealer.
“It was an average street drug buy,” the prosecutor said. “Narcotics, even in this county, is a dangerous practice.”
Mazur was released from Hackensack University Medical Center a few days later.
Vasquez — also known as “King Lucifer” — posted $2 million bail on May 8, a little over two weeks after the incident, and was released from the Bergen County Jail. He’s charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, robbery, violating parole and weapons offenses, including being an ex-con possessing a firearm.
Two other men who authorities said were involved in the shooting — Melvin Guzman of Garfield, 19, and 22-year-old Patrick Morel of Clifton — remained held in the county jail on $550,000 bail each..
They’re charged with aggravated assault, assault with a deadly weapon and two weapons possession charges — one for its use against a law enforcement officer.
PHOTO (l. to r.): NJSPBA Delegate Detective Glenn Pagano, Deputy Police Chief Robert Guidetti, NJSPBA VP Marc Kovar, Detective Dmitriy Mazur, NJSPBA President Patrick Colligan. Police Chief Kenneth Ehrenberg, PBA President Detective Michael Cebulski
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