An NYPD sergeant once hailed as a hero for shooting at a knife-wielding attacker has been arrested for groping a Brooklyn woman he met while responding to a 911 call she made looking for help.
NYPD Sgt. Talha Ahmad, 28, was charged Friday with sexual abuse, forcible touching, official misconduct and harassment He is accused of grabbing a woman’s butt in her apartment while he was in uniform Dec. 30.
Ahmad and officers from the 69th Precinct, which covers Canarsie, arrived at the woman’s apartment that afternoon after she called for help dealing with her troubled teenage son, according to a law enforcement source.
They spoke to the woman and left but a few hours later Ahmad returned to her building unannounced, the source said. The woman was expecting a package when he buzzed the door — and so when she came to the entrance she was surprised to see Ahmad standing there.
He chatted her up, calling her beautiful, then asked to go upstairs to review past domestic incident reports with the woman, the source said. According to a criminal complaint, he told her he was there to further investigate the 911 call.
She agreed and while they were upstairs, he allegedly asked for her number and squeezed her butt, the source said. Shocked by his advances, the woman became more apprehensive toward Ahmad and he noticed the change in tone and left, the source said.
She reported what happened to the 69th Precinct and the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau opened an investigation, the source said.
Back on Jan. 4, 2021, Ahmad, then an officer with the 71st Precinct, opened fire on a man during a tight-quarters confrontation in a Crown Heights apartment.
He and another officer were responding to a domestic violence call when they encountered Tyrone Owens, who allegedly lunged at the other officer with what cops described as a 13-inch Cuisinart kitchen knife with an 8-inch blade. The officer’s vest protected him from the blade, cops said.
Ahmad fired three shots in response. No one was hurt in the exchange.
Three months later, then-Borough President Eric Adams celebrated Ahmad in a Heroes of the Month ceremony at Brooklyn Borough Hall.
Ahmad now faces a possible year in jail if he’s found guilty at trial.
The charges against him are not bail eligible and he was ordered released after his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court Friday.
