Former New York State Trooper, 28, Allegedly Staged Shooting Incident to Impress His Ex-Girlfriend

New York State Trooper Thomas J. Mascia shot himself in the leg and then claimed he was wounded by a masked, gun-slinging motorist in a bizarre staging to impress an ex-galpal, say prosecutors.

The 28-year-old now former trooper was slammed with six months in jail, five years’ probation, a $289,511 restitution fine and mental health treatment after pleading guilty to tampering with physical evidence, falsely reporting an incident and official misconduct, say Nassau County officials.

The bizarre incident began when Trooper Mascia reported he was shot in the leg during a traffic stop by a “Black or dark-skinned” man wearing a balaclava mask and driving a Dodge Charger on Oct. 30, 2024, say prosecutors.

Mascia was taken to a hospital for treatment and investigators recovered .22-caliber bullet casings at the supposed crime scene along Southern State Parkway.

But investigators were puzzled because they found “no video evidence, eyewitnesses, or license plates matching the description provided by the former trooper.”

A further probe revealed the tall tale-telling trooper staged the incident by placing the shell casings at the scene, driving to a park where he wounded himself and then drove back to the scene to report the shooting.

Investigators say they later recovered a .22-caliber rifle during a search of his family home three days later.

District Attorney Anne Donnelly says Mascia “meticulously calculated” the shameful incident so he could be seen “as a hero” and “impress … an ex-girlfriend.”

She blasted him as “disgraceful,” saying: “His lies wasted hundreds of hours of law enforcement manpower, deeply cost taxpayers in Nassau County, and betrayed the public’s trust of those in uniform.”