Widow of murdered NYPD officer fights to keep her husband's killer behind bars | Law Enforcement Today

NEW YORK CITY, NY - The widow of a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer who was murdered in Brooklyn almost 50 years go is fighting to keep her husband's killer behind bars.

According to the New York Post, if he is released, he would be the 44th cop killer to be let out of prison since 2017. Police Officer Cecil Sledge was killed when parolee Salvatore "Crazy Sal" Desarno ran him over with his Chevy Nova and dragged him for five blocks during a traffic stop in 1980. The widow, Linda Sledge, 75, continues to fight to keep Desarno behind bars.

This past Valentine's Day, she made her 12th trip to the parole board to remind the members why Desarno should not be released on parole. She said, "Time doesn't change anything." She said that losing him was "every police officer's wife's worst nightmare." When Sledge was killed, he and his wife had two young children.

Linda recalled, "A kiss goodbye, 'See you later' and he walked out the door and I never saw him again. We're never going to get parole from the horror of what this man did to us." Sledge was alone in a radio car on Flatlands Avenue in Canarise patrolling for synagogue and church vandalism when he spotted Desarno, who was known as trouble to precinct cops and wanted in a donut-shop hold-up.

When Sledge, who was 35 at the time, confronted the suspect, Desarno drew a .38 Smith & Wesson and fired five shots. Sledge few his own weapon and fired two shots. The cop's vest stopped the bullets but the slumped to the ground and was run over when Desarno, hit by both bullets, peeled out and dragged the officer to his death.

Desarno's car slammed into a Don't Walk pole at East 85th Street. He jumped out and crashed through the window of a nearby home, where he took a 50-year-old woman hostage for eight minutes until a small unit of officers arrived. The woman was unharmed.

At the time of the incident, Desarno had a long rap sheet that started when he was a juvenile, including robbery and assault, both violent crimes. When the incident happened, he was on parole for robbery. He was sentenced to 25 years to life for Sledge's murder and is currently at Five Points Correctional Facility in Seneca County.

Sledge was a U.S. Army veteran and had 12 years on the police force. He was the first cop killed in a one-man radio car patrol. After his death, the one-cop patrol stopped. When speaking of her kids, Linda said, "They never got an opportunity to hear his voice and hear his stories and spend time with him."

She has grown weary from pushing the state parole board over and over to not release him. She said, "But you do it. You do it for you, you do it for them because I'm my husband's voice and I'm seeking justice for him." She added, Desarno, who is now 66-years-old, should "remain behind bars for the rest of his life."

Court records show that the 16-memeber parole board is expected to make a decision after his hearing, which is expected sometime in March. A police union source said that the rules that govern how the board weighs an inmate's release were revised in 2017 due to more progressive activists lobbying for change. 

The board now gives more weight to an inmate's age and record while in prison, and less to the severity of their crimes. PBA President Patrick Hendry called the parole process "torture for the families." He added, "It is shameful that they are forced to deliver their victim impact statement to a random parole board member who may not be on the panel deciding the case. Every parole board member who sits on the panel should be required to look at these grieving families in the eye and hear their story before they vote to put another ruthless cop-killer back on the streets."