A pair of plainclothes NYPD cops wrestled with a customer waving around a large handgun during a wild caught-on-camera clash inside a Bronx deli, the Daily News has learned.
Video acquired by The News shows the officers handcuffing the gunman and then grabbing the “Dirty Harry”-size .44 magnum from him inside the 543 Deli on Southern Blvd. in Mott Haven about 4:40 a.m. Feb. 10.
The gunman pulled the massive pistol out in front of the two officers as he started to leave the store, apparently not realizing they were members of the NYPD’s Transit District 12 neighborhood safety team.
As he stepped toward the exit, one of the cops grabbed him from behind and forced him against the glass door while the other tried to handcuff the gunman’s hands behind his back, the video shows.
The 5-foot-5 120-pound gunman tried to break free but was forced against the counter and arrested, the video shows.
Cops recovered the firearm and charged Martin Mateo with criminal possession of a firearm and reckless endangerment.
A judge ordered Mateo held on $20,000 cash bail at his Feb. 11 arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court. He remained on Rikers Island Thursday awaiting his next court date.