NY state trooper shoots himself to impress his ex — he said a ‘dark-skinned’ man was responsible

A New York court has sentenced a former state trooper to six months in jail for shooting himself to impress his ex-girlfriend and then blaming a “dark-skinned” man for the attack.

According to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, Thomas J. Mascia, 35, pleaded guilty in May 2025 to tampering with physical evidence, falsely reporting an incident, and official misconduct. On October 22, 2025, he received six months behind bars, five years of probation, nearly $290,000 in restitution, and mandatory mental-health treatment as part of a plea deal

Prosecutors said the former trooper’s elaborate lie wasted hundreds of hours of police time, cost thousands of dollars in public money, and caused unnecessary public fear about a gunman on the loose.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said Mascia’s actions “were as meticulously calculated as they were disgraceful.”

What happened to Thomas Mascia?

It all started on the night of October 30, 2024, when Mascia reported over his police radio that someone shot him in the leg while conducting a traffic stop on the westbound Southern State Parkway. He claimed a “dark-skinned” man driving a dark Dodge Charger with temporary New Jersey plates fired at him and sped off.

His report triggered a manhunt involving local, state, and federal agencies. Authorities shut down roads as police helicopters circled the area. First responders transported Mascia to an area hospital with a non-life-threatening wound, but investigators quickly found inconsistencies in his story.

The Mascia investigation

When detectives searched Mascia’s home, they discovered a .22-caliber rifle matching the bullet recovered from his leg. Surveillance footage showed no suspect vehicle in the area at the time of the alleged shooting. Investigators determined Mascia had driven to a nearby state park, shot himself, and returned to the parkway to stage the scene by planting shell casings.

According to prosecutors, he did so because he wanted to impress his ex-girlfriend, a nurse, by appearing to have survived a heroic line-of-duty shooting. According to the New York Post, Mascia demanded treatment at her hospital after faking the attack.

According to Mascia’s lawyer, his client also lied in 2022 about being struck by a hit-and-run driver. Investigators, however, did not find enough evidence to bring criminal charges in that case