A man known to the NYPD was arrested after being found asleep in a Brooklyn subway station with a loaded gun visible in his waistband, as shown in a video.
Lawrence Costa, 45, was apprehended around 6:40 a.m. on Sunday when officers spotted a black firearm in plain sight as they walked through the station at Myrtle Avenue and Broadway in Bed-Stuy, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
Bodycam footage depicts officers approaching a sleeping individual on the subway stairs, with the gun protruding from his belt beneath a bright blue and yellow hoodie.
âYou all right? Everything good?â one officer is heard asking while nudging the sleeping suspect awake. Another officer is seen removing the firearm from the suspect’s waistband as he is being handcuffed.
âIt doesn’t get much easier than this!â the NYPD commented while sharing the arrest footage.
âIn today’s edition of ‘can’t make this up’ â a 45-year-old male (well known to the NYPD) thought nothing of falling asleep on a Brooklyn train station staircase this morning with an illegally possessed & loaded firearm exposed,â NYPD Chief of Transit Michael M. Kemper wrote on X.
âDefinitely not the best decision he’s made,â Kemper added.
An NYPD spokesperson did not provide further details on how Costa was known to the department.
Costa is facing multiple charges of criminal possession of a weapon for the illegal and loaded firearm, police stated. He was arrested without any issues, according to the police.