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Drunk Killer NYPD Cop Gets 1-3 Years

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Porcus Ubiquitous

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Nov 1, 2002, 3:52:57 AM11/1/02

Ex-Cop Sentenced
Victim's family: 1-to-3 not enough for DWI death

James O'Connor ((Newsday Photo/ Alan Raia))
Sep 18, 2002

James O'Connor's Family ((Newsday Photo/ Alan Raia))
Sep 18, 2002

Victims' Family (Newsday Photo/Alan Raia))
Sep 18, 2002

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By Herbert Lowe
STAFF WRITER

September 19, 2002

The family of a construction worker killed by a former police captain
as he drove drunk on the Throgs Neck Bridge spurned his apology and
decried his sentence yesterday, saying he left "an open wound" that it
can "never forget."

Before being taken into custody to begin serving 1 to 3 years in
prison, James O'Connor, 47, of Oceanside, once a rising star in the
Police Department, apologized for his actions to a judge, his family
and the family of the victim, Afif Hazim, 52, who was killed Oct. 20,
1999.

"This is not justice!" Hazim's widow, Jamilah, 50, screamed outside a
courtroom in Kew Gardens.

O'Connor was sentenced as part of a plea agreement that State Supreme
Court Judge Robert Hanophy accepted in July even though prosecutors
had asked he serve 3 to 9 years behind bars.

In imposing the sentence, Hanophy insisted that "justice was done" and
that "the sentence that was given to Mr. O'Connor is not different
than for anyone else in Queens County."

When it was his turn to speak, O'Connor told the judge he was "deeply
ashamed" at a time when other officers were being hailed as heroes for
their responses to last year's terrorist attack.

Turning to address the victim's relatives, O'Connor said, "You are in
my family's prayers and my prayers and I only hope that in the passage
of time you will find some peace."

But Jamilah Hazim wailed in outrage after the sentence was imposed,
calling it an insult to the family.

Holding up a portrait of her husband, she said he was robbed of the
chance to live a long, 95-year life like his father did.

"This is not fair!" she cried, her family trying to lead her toward an
elevator.

At the sentencing, O'Connor and his attorney, Michael Dowd, turned to
face the relatives as two of them lashed out.

"The best years of his life were ahead of him," Hazim's son, Azzam
Hazim, 28, told the court. "For myself, my mother and my two sisters,
his unnecessary death at the hands of this defendant, a drunk driver,
has left an open wound that will never heal."

"Justice was not served," said the victim's brother, Elias Hazim, 43.
"What you have gotten is a slap on the wrist. ... I want you to
remember for every waking minute of every day what you have done to my
family, as we shall all certainly never forget."

O'Connor's sentencing followed the prosecution of former police
officer Joseph Gray, 41, who was handed the maximum prison term of 5
to 15 years in May for a 2001 drunken-driving crash that killed a
family of four in Brooklyn.

On the eve of his own trial, O'Connor resigned from the department
after a 17-year career, forfeiting his pension. He pleaded guilty to
reckless manslaughter and other charges to avoid facing up to 15 years
if convicted.

Prosecutors said O'Connor had been drinking for six hours with friends
at a bar celebration in the Bronx for his impending promotion when he
got into an unmarked police car and headed toward Queens to pick up
his private car.

As the off-duty captain crossed the bridge at 12:40 a.m., he drove
into a closed construction lane to pass backed-up traffic and struck
Hazim, who was removing asphalt from the roadway for resurfacing,
prosecutors said.

In his court statement, O'Connor plaintively thanked his own family
for their love and support.

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