That’s offensive.
A former Green Bay Packers running back who won a Super Bowl with the team in 2011, bailed out an alleged dope-dealing cop shooter – who is now practically a free man and driving a livery car while awaiting trial, police sources told The Post.
Nelson Pizarro, 40, was charged with shooting Detective Dominick Libretti during a drug bust in Staten Island in January 2022.
Pizarro was sprung 11 months after the shooting when ex-Packers RB Ryan Grant – a standout at Notre Dame who made about $20 million over the course of his NFL career – ponied up most of the $500,000 that secured bail, sources said.
The football player and Pizarro were “close friends,” but the connection between them wasn’t clear, police sources have said. Grant was raised in Rockland County and Pizarro on Staten Island.
Pizarro was put on house arrest after his release from jail to await trial, but has since been given permission to work as a livery driver, the sources said.
“He’s just got free rein of all the boroughs,” one law enforcement source said. “So there’s pretty much no repercussions for shooting a cop.”
Libretti, a 10-year veteran who’s been back to work since August, told a friend that he heard about Pizarro’s job and said it “blows his mind.”
Adding insult to injury, Pizarro was even seen driving about four blocks from Libretti’s home, the police sources said.
“How do you not tell me that this guy’s out driving on the freeway,” Libretti told his friend. “It’s just a slap in the face to the whole job.”
It wasn’t clear what company Pizarro was driving for, but the NYPD has been trying to get a copy of his logs to make sure he’s not violating the terms of his release, including an 8 p.m. curfew, the sources said.
The company he’s driving for is refusing and demanding a warrant.=
It also wasn’t clear how Pizarro got permission to do a job that would take him all over the city.
The Staten Island District Attorney’s Office didn’t return a call seeking information.
A spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration also didn’t return calls seeking information about the arrangement — and who approved it.
Repeated attempts to reach Pizarro were unsuccessful.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell hailed Libretti as a hero the day of the shooting for using his ballistic shield to protect his team as they tried to slow the blood pouring out of the bullet wound in his leg.
Five police officers have been shot since Jan. 1, including Detectives Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, who died days after being gunned down during a domestic violence call in Harlem.