Jury hears EMS Capt. Alison Russo's cries in fatal Astoria stabbing

The anguished cries of FDNY EMT Capt. Alison Russo as her attacker stabbed her to death on an Astoria street in 2022 jolted a Queens courtroom during the prosecution's opening statements Monday in the trial of the man accused of killing the Huntington resident.

In a chilling surveillance video played in court, Russo is heard crying out in terror the moment the man police identified as Peter Zisopoulos runs up to her the afternoon of Sept. 29, 2022, and lunges at her with a knife, stabbing her multiple times. A parked car obscured the actual stabbings from view of the surveillance camera, which was across from the intersection of 41st Street and 20th Avenue.

The video was among the first pieces of evidence in the opening of the trial of Zisopoulos on murder and weapons possession charges.

In his opening statement to the jury, Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Selkowe counted from the numbers one to 20 as he moved his right arm in a stabbing motion to illustrate the number of times Zisopoulos allegedly knifed a helpless Russo as she lay on her back. Russo, 61, suffered wounds to her heart, lungs, liver and other organs in the attack, Selkowe said.

“He had the desire to kill and the intent to kill,” Selkowe said of Zisopoulos, in his 15-minute opening.

Defense attorney Gina Mitchell, who called Russo’s death a tragedy and told jurors "there is no explanation for why," in her opening statement, reminded them that the prosecution had to prove that Zisopoulos had the intent to kill the EMT officer. Mitchell put the number of stab wounds at 22.

Before the jury entered the courtroom, Mitchell indicated the defense wanted to introduce evidence that dealt with Zisopoulos' mental state. The defendant suffered from schizophrenia for years and had been diagnosed as delusional and psychotic. Mitchell said that Zisopoulos lived with his mother and brother in an apartment she described as a hoarder dwelling, with the defendant sleeping in the same room as his mother.

But in pretrial proceedings Judge Ushir Pandit-Durant found Zisopoulos fit to stand trial and noted that Zisopoulos had told his attorneys he didn’t want to pursue the affirmative defense of mental illness. On Monday, Pandit-Durant precluded the defense from using any evidence that dealt with Zisopoulos’s mental status from people who knew him.

The first witness called by Selkowe was Courtney Bryson, 38, of Nassau County, who lived across the street in Astoria from where the attack on Russo took place. Bryson testified she witnessed the stabbing from her home and took photos and a video of Russo as the EMT lay on the sidewalk, and as the man she identified as Zisopoulos walked back to his apartment. As EMS teams arrived, Bryson said, she walked across the street to get a closer look. Russo appeared dead, Bryson testified.

“She looked like she was no longer here," Bryson told the jury, "her eyes and mouth were open."

“When you see something that traumatic it doesn’t go away,” Bryson said about her ability to correctly recall what she observed.

Another prosecution witness was FDNY EMT John Nicosia, 28, who rushed to the crime scene with his first aid bag and tried to help Russo as she lay bleeding on the sidewalk. It was clear to Nicosia as he tried to administer first aid to his fallen colleague that she was gone, despite his efforts at CPR, he testified.

“I did not pick up breathing or a pulse,” Nicosia said.

Nicosia and colleagues transported Russo and her bloody clothing to a hospital and remained there for hours, he said.

When she died, Russo, who was also a volunteer with the Huntington Community First Aid Squad, was a lieutenant but was posthumously promoted to the rank of captain.

Sitting in court Monday with scores of FDNY EMT personnel was Russo’s daughter, Danielle Fuoco, 43, of Shoreham, who occasionally dabbed her eyes with a tissue.

“It was disturbing, it was pretty disturbing,” Fuoco said about hearing what turned out to be the last moments of her mother’s life.

NYPD Det. Joseph Montano, who had been assigned to the 114 Precinct at the time of the killing, testified about taking Zisopoulos into custody and observing that his hands were bloody and had cuts.

Selkowe said in his opening that experts would testify a knife taken from Zisopoulos contained a mixture of DNA from both him and Russo.

On Tuesday, the prosecution is expected to call additional medical personnel and police investigators to the stand. At some point Selkowe will bring in the medical examiner to describe what the autopsy found.

The trial is expected to last about a week. If convicted, Zisopoulos faces a possible prison sentence of 25 years to life.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.