sleeping Officer Matthew Sobota is photographed by straphanger on a Manhattan-bound F train
hero cop has been disciplined for catching Z’s on the F rain while armed and in uniform.
Officer Matthew Sobota, 43, was caught snoozing on the subway by a straphanger, who snapped photos with his cell phone camera and emailed them to NYPD brass.
I thought maybe a teenager could take (Sobota’s) gun and sell it or use it. I felt like it was a potentially unsafe thing,” said Martin Bisi, 51, of Brooklyn, who took the photos of the sleepy cop on Feb. 16.
Bisi, a music producer, noticed the officer dozing on the train at Carroll St. just after 3 p.m. He said the cop was asleep during his entire 7-minute trip.
Reached at home, Sobota admitted he’d screwed up and blamed the overtime he’d been working for the catnap.
I was tired. I worked multiple tours,” he said. “I was not supposed to do what I did. I’m a little down about it. I’m allowed to sit down, but not to close my eyes."
A police source said Sobota, assigned to the mounted unit, was off duty at the time but was headed to do outside security work sanctioned by the NYPD.
He was disciplined for failure to be alert while in uniform,” said the police source, explaining that Sobota could be docked vacation days.
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