When Altoona, Pennsylvania police officer Tyler Frye got the call on Dec. 9, 2024 that the suspect in a brazen New York City killing was at the local McDonalds, he had been with the department for less than a year and was out getting a lesson in making traffic stops.
Responding to the call with fellow officer Joseph Detwiler, the rookie cop soon found himself at the end of a national manhunt that had been seared into the headlines for the past five days: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson had been gunned down in Midtown Manhattan on the morning of Dec. 4, 2024 outside of a hotel and Luigi Mangione was the prime suspect, and in the wind.
After Frye and Detwiler arrived at the restaurant and spotted a person wearing a face mask, a beanie pulled low and multiple layers of clothing, it didn’t take long for Frye to recognize Mangione, he said Thursday on the witness stand in a Manhattan courtroom.
“I recognized the defendant as the person that was shown in the media, specifically in Fox News,” Frye said.
Frye — who, like Mangione, was 26 years old on the day of Mangione’s arrest — was lauded by both New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for making the collar.
Frye was on the stand for the third day of an evidentiary hearing for the murder case against Mangione — and the one year anniversary of Thompson’s death — in which he shed more light on Mangione’s arrest and provided annotations to bodycam footage recorded during his interactions with Mangione, which was played for the courtroom.
Mangione, wearing a charcoal suit with a white shirt and seated at the defense table, occasionally took notes on a legal pad as the footage played.
In the defense team’s cross-examination of Frye, Jacob Kaplan of Agnifilo Intrader focused his questions on the backpack Mangione had in his possession during his arrest.
The defense argues that police searched the bag in violation of Mangione’s Miranda rights and its contents should be barred from being used as evidence in the trial.
Among the items contained in the bag was a notebook that prosecutors have described as Mangione’s manifesto, a characterization that defense attorneys reject.
Frye told prosecutors that he was aware that the man in the McDonald’s was potentially involved in an alleged shooting and he was afraid that there could be a gun on his person or in his backpack.
Kaplan pointed out that it took Frye’s partner over 10 minutes from arriving at the McDonald’s to move the backpack away from Mangione, and Frye never touched it throughout the entire arrest.
“If you were concerned for your safety would you have moved it?” Kaplan said.
After Frye’s partner gave Mangione a quick frisk, “we just wanted to make sure there weren’t any apparent weapons on him,” Frye responded.
Kaplan also pointed out that it was Mangione who warned officers that he had a pocket knife in his pocket prior to being searched, and that they trusted him enough during his intake to remove the handcuffs on his wrists.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidermann responded by questioning what it was in the video of Brian Thompson’s assassination that gave Frye concern for his safety.
“The shooter in the video had a firearm,” Frye said.
“Despite all those answers you just gave, you never moved the backpack?” Kaplan asked. Frye agreed.
The evidentiary hearing continues Friday.
