When Patrolman Joseph Detwiler answered a call last December claiming that a man who looked like the assassin of a health insurance executive was eating breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., he was dubious. He didn’t use his siren as he drove to the restaurant.
“I did not think it was going to be the person that they thought it was,” Patrolman Detwiler, of the Altoona Police Department, testified Tuesday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. When a lieutenant texted him that he would buy him a hoagie if he was able to “get” the gunman, he responded, “consider it done,” according to his testimony.
At the McDonald’s, Patrolman Detwiler approached the man after he saw him sitting at a table near the bathroom, with what appeared to be a steak, egg and cheese McMuffin and a hash brown in front of him, and using a laptop. The officer asked him to pull down his blue surgical mask.
“I knew it was him immediately,” Patrolman Detwiler said in the courtroom where pretrial hearings are being held in the murder case against the man accused in the killing, Luigi Mangione.
The officer was the sixth person whom prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office called to testify this week as they argue that evidence gathered during Mr. Mangione’s arrest should be allowed at trial.
Prosecutors have said that Mr. Mangione had personal writings with him at the time in which he denounced America’s for-profit health care system and the “parasites” of the insurance industry. The police also found a journal by Mr. Mangione in his possession that described plans for an assassination, prosecutors said.
Mr. Mangione’s lawyers have argued that the police violated his constitutional rights and so physical evidence taken from his backpack and statements he made at the time should be excluded.
The hearings, which began Monday and are expected to last several days, are the first time Mr. Mangione has appeared in Manhattan state court since the judge overseeing the case, Gregory Carro, threw out terrorism charges against him in September. He still faces second-degree murder and other charges, and if convicted, he could receive a sentence of 25 years to life. Mr. Mangione also faces a federal prosecution.
The arrest happened on the morning of Dec. 9, 2024, five days after the executive, Brian Thompson, was killed outside a Hilton hotel on West 54th Street in Manhattan before an investor gathering. Mr. Mangione had been in the McDonald’s for about 15 minutes when a manager, prompted by patrons, called the police to report that Mr. Mangione looked like the gunman.
After confronting Mr. Mangione, Patrolman Detwiler said he had walked outside and called the lieutenant who had made the hoagie bet. The patrolman told his colleague that he believed he had found the wanted man.
“I’m not kidding,” Patrolman Detwiler can be heard saying in footage taken by his body-worn camera. “He’s real nervous and he’s not talking too much.”
Patrolman Detwiler testified that Mr. Mangione’s fingers were shaking.
Earlier, inside the McDonald’s, Patrolman Detwiler had asked Mr. Mangione for his name, according to body camera footage played in court.
“Mark,” Mr. Mangione responded. When asked for his last name, he said “Rosario.” He then handed over a New Jersey driver’s license with that name.
Patrolman Detwiler asked Mr. Mangione whether he had recently traveled to New York, and then frisked him. The officer told the court that he had called for backup and had asked that the license information be checked.
To keep Mr. Mangione at ease, Patrolman Detwiler said, he invented a story about how McDonald’s had a policy that the police should be called if a patron lingered, and reassured Mr. Mangione that once his identification was verified, he could leave.
Patrolman Detwiler said he had kept up the small talk. They discussed Mr. Mangione’s sandwich while Christmas music played. Patrolman Detwiler whistled along.
The body camera footage showed Mr. Mangione responding to several questions. He affirmed that he was from New Jersey. When the police asked if he was visiting family in Altoona, he replied that he was homeless. When they asked if he had recently been in New York, he said no.
Eventually, the officers learned they had been given a fake name and license. Prosecutors have said the identification was exactly the same as the one the gunman used at a hostel on the Upper West Side.
Minutes passed, and more officers arrived. Mr. Mangione gave his real name and birth date after he was warned that if he lied about his identity again, he would be arrested. When an officer asked why he had lied, he responded, “I clearly should not have.”
Mr. Mangione was read his rights and handcuffed. Footage shows officers patting him down and finding a wallet with what Patrolman Detwiler said was “a lot of money,” including foreign currency; a piece of paper; black gloves; string or rope; and a jar of peanut butter.
At 10 a.m., about an hour after he entered the McDonald’s, Mr. Mangione was arrested and led out in handcuffs.
Hurubie Meko is a Times reporter covering criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney’s office and state courts.
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