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Former Eastchester Cop Sentenced for Manslaughter

EASTCHESTER, N.Y. – A former Eastchester Police Officer was sentenced to between three and nine years in state prison after a jury convicted him of manslaughter in the death of a New Rochelle resident.

James Pileggi, 31, was convicted of a single count of manslaughter in the second degree, a class C felony, for the shooting death of New Rochelle resident Andre Everette, 27, according to a statement issued by the Office of Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore on Tuesday afternoon.

According to the DiFiore's statement, on the evening of Nov. 3, 2009, Everett was at his home on Albert Place in New Rochelle, when Pileggi and several other acquaintances pulled in his driveway. Everett walked out to the car and was standing there speaking to the acquaintances.

"Pileggi was seated in the front passenger seat of his car and was playing with his off-duty gun, a Glock 9mm, with a laser sight affixed to it," the release said.

Everett was struck in the throat when Pileggi discharged the weapon and rushed to Sound Shore Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Pileggi was arrested shortly thereafter and tried for the offense. The first trial ended in a hung jury, but Pileggi was convicted in the second trial that ended in October.

"This defendant was an experienced police officer who worked in two police departments in Westchester County and had repeated training in the use and safeguarding of his firearm," said DiFiore following the sentencing. "For former Police Officer Pileggi to claim that the shooting of his friend was an accident and not a conscious disregard for due care and safety is absurd and simply a ploy to avoid accountability for his reckless action, an action for which a jury found him responsible and the court sentence him today."

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