Off-duty NYPD officer still has vision problems weeks after Bronx assault, union says

An off-duty NYPD officer is still struggling with blurry vision and sensitivity to light weeks after being beaten during a robbery in the Bronx, union officials said Wednesday.

Taveon Hargrove, 23, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other charges in Bronx Supreme Court, nearly a month after prosecutors said he and 23-year-old Wayne Lucas violently attacked Officer Chowdhury Nafees, 27, as he walked home between shifts on Memorial Day weekend. Lucas entered a not guilty plea earlier this month.

Both men are being held without bail.

Prosecutors said the suspects held a knife to Nafees’ neck, stole his valuables, including his service pistol, and began beating him. Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said the suspects realized Nafees was a cop only after spotting his uniform under a coat.

“When they saw his uniform, this defendant allegedly stomped on the officer’s head so forcefully that it left a shoe print on his face,” Clark said in a statement.

Nafees sustained head trauma and fractures to both sides of his face and was hospitalized for four days.

Following the attack, prosecutors said the suspects fled to Virginia, where they were arrested several days later. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the men were apprehended using the handcuffs stolen from Nafees during the assault.

Hargrove initially fought extradition before being returned to New York this week.

During a press conference after Hargrove’s arraignment, Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said Nafees is recovering but still has trouble seeing clearly.

“Going outside with the light bothers him,” Hendry said. “He is trying everything he can do, though, to come back to being a New York City police officer.”

Records show Nafees joined the NYPD in January 2024.

Messages left with attorneys for Hargrove and Lucas were not returned.