Today marked the second day of pretrial suppression hearings in Luigi Mangione’s case at the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Mangione is facing second-degree murder charges brought against him in the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all state and federal charges against him.
Mangione’s defense team is seeking to bar evidence obtained when he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, because they claim it was obtained through an illegal search and seizure that violated his constitutional rights. These hearings, which began Monday, will determine whether evidence acquired during Mangione’s arrest is admissible in New York state court.
Altoona police officer Joseph Detwiler, one of the two officers who first responded to the McDonald’s 911 call, was the sole witness to testify today. Prosecutors entered into evidence never-before-seen body-camera footage from multiple police officers as Mangione was questioned, identified, detained, and searched in the McDonald’s.
Detwiler recounted getting dispatched to the McDonald’s on Dec. 9, 2024, after a McDonald’s manager made a 911 call that customers believed there was someone at McDonald’s who resembled the United Healthcare shooting suspect.
The prosecution played the dispatch call stating, “There’s a male in the store that looks like the NYC shooter.” In response, Detwiler says, “10-4, we’ll be on that.”
Detwiler testified that he wasn’t convinced the McDonald’s employee had the right man. “I was being semi-sarcastic when I said it,” he testified. He was driving a patrol car with another officer, Tyler Frye, who he was training on traffic law. “I did not think it was going to be [him.]”
Detwiler testified that his lieutenant texted him, “If you get the New York City shooter, I’ll buy you a hoagie from the local restaurant.”
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“Consider it done,” he responded. When driving over to McDonald’s, he didn’t drive over with lights and sirens, he testified, because he didn’t think it would be the UHC suspect.
Detwiler and Frye’s bodycam footage was played in courtroom monitors as Mangione watched with a neutral expression. Detwiler testified that when he walked in, he could tell who the “suspicious” person was because it’s not common to see people wearing masks in Altoona.
“We don’t wear masks,” said Detwiler. “We have antibodies.” This prompted laughter from the courtroom, including Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann. Mangione, who stayed stoic for much of the day, let out a big smile.
On the bodycam footage, the two police officers approach Mangione and ask him to pull down his mask, and he complies.
“I knew it was him, immediately,” said Detwiler. He added that he watches “a lot of Fox News” and had seen video and photographs of both the Brian Thompson shooting and the suspect. In the footage, Detwiler and Frye proceed to ask Mangione for his name, and he identifies himself as Mark Rosario and hands them New Jersey state ID, which Mangione in the footage later admits is fake. The police ask Mangione why he is in Altoona, if he’s there to visit family and Mangione replies, “Uh, no I’m homeless.”
The police ask Mangione where he is from, and he continues eating a hash brown, saying he hadn’t been to Jersey in a while. Eventually Mangione answers he’s from DMV (Delaware/Maryland/Virginia).
In today’s testimony, Detwiler admitted he lied to Mangione and told him that he was called because he was lingering too long at the McDonald’s, and that it was a common reason police were called.
“I wanted him to feel like it was something normal,” Detwiler testified, when asked why he lied. In the footage, Detwiler steps out of the McDonald’s to call for backup, telling the lieutenant who offered him a hoagie, “Yes, he’s here Tom, it’s him. I’m not kidding, Tom, it’s him. He’s real nervous. Tom, I’m about 100 percent sure it’s him. Why don’t you come out here, Tom? I appreciate it.”
Throughout the interaction with the police, Mangione calmly eats his hash brown, then moves on to his steak sandwich — which Detwiler tells Mangione is his favorite. Eventually when more police arrive and Mangione is asked why he lied about his name, he says, eyebrows raised, “Uh, I clearly shouldn’t have.”
Mangione is questioned and frisked as Christmas music plays loudly in the background. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” blasts as he is handcuffed and detained, told by law enforcement this is because he presented the police with a fake ID. At times, Detwiler mutes the audio on his bodycam, saying it’s routine when discussing administrative tasks and strategy with other police officers.
Mangione’s items found on his person are placed into his brown beanie and brought with him and the officers to Altoona PD. Detwiler testified that among Mangione’s personal items was a blue-and-white wallet containing both American money and foreign currency, along with a jar of peanut butter that he didn’t initially find when frisking Mangione, who was wearing multiple coats.
During defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo’s cross-examination, she questioned Detwiler over whether he strategically placed himself to block Mangione from exiting the McDonald’s.
“We needed somewhere to stand; we’re not just going to stand next to each other holding hands,” Detwiler said. Later on he claimed his positioning was more about standing between Mangione and his backpack, which Detwiler said he feared had a weapon in it. (According to police, the backpack allegedly contained a 3D-printed gun and silencer.) Friedman Agnifilo pressed Detwiler about whether his questions at the McDonald’s were to try and get information related to the New York shooting, and Detwiler replied that he was just “trying to get [Mangione’s] reaction” by asking him if he’d been to New York.
Friedman Agnifilo also highlighted every time Detwiler muted his audio or turned off his bodycam video entirely. At one point we see a female police officer start to say something to Detwiler and look down at his bodycam, which had a red light showing it was recording. She stops and then Detwiler turns the camera off. Detwiler mutes or turns off the bodycam a few times throughout the arrest.
“I stopped it to talk to an officer,” said Detwiler, about one of the times he stopped it. “You decided to turn it off completely?” responded Friedman Agnifilo. She also made Detwiler repeat the times he lied to Mangione and asked if calling the steak sandwich was also a lie. “That’s true,” he replied, to laughter in the court. Toward the end of her cross, Friedman Agnifilo asked Detwiler if he discussed the incident with other officers before writing up his incident report the next day. Detwiler responded that he didn’t remember. (Prosecutor Joel Seidemann later had Detwiler clarify that he was “absolutely not” directed by anyone when writing his report.)
Throughout the day, Mangione remained neutral, much like his behavior when being arrested. He jotted down notes on a yellow legal pad and looked forward at the courtroom monitors at the footage of his arrest. In the final minutes, Judge Gregory Carro ruled that he’d be sealing the evidence from the press until the trial begins, in order to avoid prejudicing Mangione’s trials. When a reporter stood up (presumably to object), she was removed from court.
The suppression hearings are expected to last at least the rest of this week, with a break on Wednesday.
This article was updated on Dec. 2, 2025, at 8:43 p.m. ET to reflect that officer Joseph Detwiler was dispatched to the McDonald’s on Dec. 9, 2024.
From Rolling Stone US
