Tisbury police arrest a man for allegedly possessing a weapon and making threats at the Steamship Authority terminal

Tisbury police arrested a former New York City Police officer Wednesday for allegedly possessing a weapon and threatening to detonate explosives in the parking lot of the Steamship Authority Terminal.

David A. Capato, 56, of Edgartown, was arraigned Thursday in Edgartown District Court on several charges, including threatening to bomb or kidnap, possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime and assault with a dangerous weapon.

Court records show he pleaded not guilty and was ordered remanded in custody until Tuesday’s hearing. His lawyer declined to comment.

According to the police report, Capato called 911 just before 9:10 p.m. and informed dispatchers that he had found an unloaded revolver with a lock on the terminal.

Officers who arrived at the scene observed that Capato, wearing a hockey jersey and equipped with what appeared to be a body camera with a flashing green light attached to his collar, appeared “probably mad” as he “was gesturing frantically at them.”

As the officers approached, Capato “very quickly” took out the revolver, holding it by the cylinder rather than the handle, and threw it into the mailbox.

He later allegedly warned officers, “Don’t get (expletive) close to me unless you want to get vaporized,” the report says, pointing behind him at a vehicle he believed was full of explosives. He said he had a “trigger” and worked to clear explosive ordnance as an NYPD officer, police said.

A spokesman for the New York Police Department said Thursday that Capato left the force in 2011. Additional information about his tenure with the department was not immediately available.

On Wednesday, Capato One Point took a step toward the officers and said “words like, ‘I know what you’re doing, I was a cop too,'” the report says. “Don’t tell me to kill us all, or I’ll be so mad you’ll be mad too.”

The officer calmly replied, “‘We’re not going to get angry about dying, are we?” – we read in the report. “That answer seemed to stop him and ease the tension for a moment.”

Capato then told officers he had an “M4 assault rifle” in his vehicle.

Authorities said the area was cleared of all non-law enforcement personnel as negotiators spent about two hours talking to Capato before he surrendered peacefully.

Inside Capato’s vehicle, police found a yellow laboratory dog ​​sitting in the passenger seat, as well as “several large clear bags full of wood stove pellets” and an AR-15-style rifle that had been taken apart and assembled with a firearm. According to the report, locks.

Police also seized several electronic devices, including “laptops, cell phones and the aforementioned recording device that Capato was wearing on his collar when we first made contact.”

A spokesman for the Office of Maritime Navigation directed questions to the police.

Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected].