PO Shot in Queens

[apo2be]

http://ny1.com/content/top_stories/102925/police-officer-shot-in-queens/Default.aspx

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Wishing you a speedy recovery. Glad they have a suspect in custody!

[Sled]

The suspect in custody was not the one with the gun.

[apo2be]

New York City Police Officer Rodney Lewis, 40, was wounded while responding to report of a domestic dispute in Ridgewood, Queens, at about 5 Sunday morning.

Lewis was wearing a bulletproof vest, but the bullet went through the left vent of the vest and struck him in the armpit. His wound was not considered to be life threatening.

Lewis and his partner, Officer Mark Bublin, both from the 104th precinct, came across a dispute at 1812 Menahan Street, which was near the location of the original domestic call and that had a participant who matched a description from that call.

The officers noticed a bulge in the waistline of Edwin Santana, 33, that turned out to be a gun. After the weapon was removed it fell to the ground and discharged, hitting officer Lewis.

Santana, who was convicted of manslaughter in 1991 and has an outstanding warrant for a parole violation, was arrested.

The police commissioner and Queens district attorney visited Officer Lewis at Wycoff Medical Center, as did Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who said he spoke to the officer.

"I joked with him that we had a budget crisis and we wanted him back on the job," Bloomberg said.

Lewis is in stable condition.

"He is . . . awake and in very good spirits, especially considering the grave possibility of what could have been this morning. But most importantly, the doctors say that Officer Lewis is likely to make a full recovery," Bloomberg said.

Don't mean in any way to argue however, according to this Newsday report, the man with the gun is in custody.

[Stackit02]

Don't mean in any way to argue however, according to this Newsday report, the man with the gun is in custody.

One should never take a newspaper source to be 100% accurate.

[apo2be]

This is very true. This is a third story about the incident which also indicates that the person with the gun is in custody.

A police officer responding to a violent domestic dispute on a Queens street was shot Sunday morning during a struggle with an ex-con, cops said.

Officer Rodney Lewis, 40, was expected to survive though the bullet missed his protective vest entirely, passing through its armhole before striking the cops' underarm, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

But the bullet only hit muscle, sparing Lewis' life, Kelly said.

"He wanted to be a cop all his life," said Mayor Bloomberg, who stood with Kelly at a press conference at Wyckoff Hospital and added that the injured officer was already anxious to get back to work.

Lewis and his partner Mark Bublin, who are both assigned to the 104th Precinct, rushed to Menahan St. in Ridgewood just before 5 a.m., police said.

They were responding to a 911 call made by Hazel Campana, a transgendered woman who had returned home from a party a short time earlier with her boyfriend Carlos, police sources said.

They began to squabble, and Campana - who police sources said used to be named Robert Campana - accused Carlos of stealing from her purse.

Carlos, who sports a teardrop tattoo under his eye, then hit Campana, who called police and a friend, who in turn called the victim's ex-boyfriend, Edwin Santana.

Santana, who was convicted of manslaughter in 1991 and is wanted on a current parole violation, confronted Campana and Carlos on the sidewalk minutes later, police said.

"Santana shows up to defend her honor," a police source said.

A second 911 call was then made, describing "a bald man with a gun," according to sources. Officers Lewis and Bublin spotted Santana, who is bald, with a bulge in his jacket and ordered him to stop but the ex-con refused, Kelly said.

The cops struggled with Santana and tried to remove an old 32-caliber handgun from his waistband, said Kelly, who later displayed the 60-year-old weapon.

The weapon was knocked loose, and a single round was discharged when it hit the pavement, striking Lewis under his left arm, Kelly said.

Though he was struck, Lewis still managed to help his partner subdue Santana. He then said, "I'm shot," and his colleagues rushed him to the hospital.

Jose Moran, 32, heard the commotion while stocking shelves at a nearby bodega.

"I heard shots and came upstairs," said Moran. "I saw maybe six police officers carrying another one into a police car and they drove away."

Lewis, who is married, was conscious when colleagues put him in a squad car and rushed him to Wyckoff Hospital. He will be moved later today to New York Weill-Cornell Medical Center.

Lewis joined the NYPD four-and-a-half years ago after he spent two years with the Corrections Department. Before that, he laid floors for a living, Kelly said.

Santana, 33, was arrested at the scene and charges against him are pending, police said. Campana's current boyfriend - who may also have had a weapon - has not yet been located, police said.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/07/26/2009-07-26_nypd_officer_shot_while_confronting_gunman_in_q ueens.html#ixzz0MOFJk1VU

[Sled]

The original story, (since updated) mentioned two persons, and the one that dropped the gun fled. If you get the local (NYC) news, you would see that this is the 2nd or 3rd version of what happened. When I originally posted the previous post, the media was listing story # 1, and referred to the gunman as the "bald" guy, and stated he fled.

[apo2be]

As I stated, I meant no disrespect to you, and did not want to initiate an argument. I understand that these news stories change all the time, as statements are released and new information arrises. I was simply clarifying for others viewing the thread. I do appologize if my posts were interperted as arrogant or accusitory (of incorrect information), as this was in no way my intention.