5 Mount Vernon cops suspended after suspect smuggles gun in buttocks

Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News on Oct 23, 2025

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NEW YORK — Five cops have been suspended after a prisoner allegedly smuggled a gun in his buttocks and shot another prisoner in the back of a police transport van in Westchester County, authorities said Thursday.

Louis Soto, 32, pulled the gun while being transported by Mount Vernon police on Oct. 16, cops said. He shot another prisoner in the leg in the back of the van; that person has not been publicly identified.

Sources told WPIX on Thursday that Soto smuggled the gun in his buttocks. The Mount Vernon Police Department said only that “a properly conducted frisk or authorized strip search should have revealed the weapon.”

After the gunshot, cops immediately drove the van back to police headquarters, thoroughly searched all five people in the back and located a .22-caliber revolver on Soto.

The two officers in the van, Omar Bryce and Sonjea Collins, were suspended along with officers Cody Housen and Christian Pacheco and Sgt. Joseph Diaz.

“Based on our established training, policies and procedures, early findings indicate that the firearm should have been detected during arrest or intake,” Mount Vernon police wrote in a press release.

All five cops have been suspended without pay for 30 days pending an internal investigation. Police are also probing if Soto had any connection with the man he shot in the van.

Soto, a Bronx resident, had been arrested the prior day after witnesses reported him following a girl younger than 14 into an apartment building and touching her inappropriately.

Before the shooting, he was facing charges of second-degree burglary, forcible touching, second-degree sex abuse and child endangerment. After the shooting, he was hit with new charges of first-degree attempted assault and multiple weapons offenses.

The follow-up search also revealed Soto was carrying crack cocaine at the time, cops said. He was additionally charged with drug possession.

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