www.nynewsday.com/ny-bronxcop0128,0,1571158.story?coll=nyc-topheadlines-span

Cop shoots cop outside of Bronx fast-food restaurant

BY HERBERT LOWE
STAFF WRITER

January 28, 2006, 1:27 PM EST

A New York City police officer responding to a 911 call of an assault inside a White Castle restaurant in the Bronx shot and gravely wounded an off-duty officer holding a gun at the scene, police said.

The early morning shooting happened just hours after a city police officer collapsed and died, apparently of a heart attack, following a struggle with a group of suspects on the Upper East Side.

In the Bronx incident, the wounded officer, Eric Hernandez, 25, had apparently been jumped by as many as six men inside the restaurant, on Webster Avenue in the borough's Tremont section, before getting away, police said. The officer who shot him was one of two responding to a 911 call from the restaurant of an assault in progress, police said. When they arrived on the scene, Hernandez was pointing a gun at a man in the parking lot outside the restaurant, police said.

It appears that the responding officers, who were not identified, did not know that Hernandez was a police officer, police said. His badge was found in his pocket after the shooting.

The shooting is believed to be the NYPD's first friendly fire shooting since Desmond Robinson, who was in plainclothes, was shot in the back by an off-duty officer on May 22, 1994. Robinson had his gun drawn on a subway platform, and the officer mistook him for a criminal.

The Bronx shooting came hours after another officer died following a struggle with suspects on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Kevin Lee, a 10-year NYPD veteran, was part of a surveillance team that was tailing a group of men who appeared to be casing stores on Lexington Avenue shortly before 6 p.m., police said. After being told by employees at one of the stores that the men might have taken a laptop computer, the officers moved in to make an arrest.

Lee, 31 died at Lenox Hill Hospital just before 8 p.m. Friday. The cause of death remained undetermined.

The officer who shot Hernandez has worked 20 years on the force, but as of late morning yesterday had not been interviewed by detectives. He and his partner were taken to Jacobi Medical Center for observation, police said.

Hernandez, who joined the Police Department in 2004, was in intensive care at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx after undergoing surgery for the injuries suffered at about 5 a.m., officials said.

Hernandez, who had just finished a 4 p.m. to midnight shift on uniform patrol in the 52nd Police Precinct, was expected to undergo more surgery once his temperature reached an acceptable level, officials said.

He was shot once in each leg and once in the abdomen, police said. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the injuries would have been fatal on an older man.

After the shooting, Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly visited with Hernandez's father at the hospital. Other relatives were there, too.

"We don't have words to adequately console them in such awful circumstances," Bloomberg said at a news conference at St. Barnabas. While saying "we all still have a lot of questions about this incident," Bloomberg said it was "unavoidable in a situation like this, when life and death decisions are made in an instant."

According to Kelly, at 4:55 a.m., the woman who called 911 did so on behalf a patron being attacked. He said police were not sure whether Hernandez was waiting in line, or if he was already eating, or what caused the assault to take place. Police said they are reviewing surveillance tape taken from inside the restaurant.

Six suspects in the assault and two witnesses were taken to the 46th Police Precinct for questioning, police said.

Special correspondent Sarah Garland contributed to this story. The Associated Press also contributed to this article.

I cannot imagine how those cops that shot one of their own feel.  Just a bad deal for all.  It always amazes me how little we pay these guys/girls for such dangerous work.

i guess they ran out of dogs, cats and innocent by-standers..

the_survivalist


Keep your shit out of this forum.

What M1-Matt said. That was uncalled for. Lets hope the off-duty cop makes a full recovery.

Originally Posted By the_survivalist: i guess they ran out of dogs, cats and innocent by-standers..

If it walks, talks, smells and looks like an asshole............

guess they ran out of dogs, cats and innocent by-standers..

NOT FUNNY.....

The thing that gets me he gets hit 3 times and in serious condition. While a A hole real bad guy gets shot 20 times with no major arties or organs hot. It just is not fair and my prayers go out to him and the officers involved.

Dam Shame

It was a horrible mistake and I wish the officer a speedy recovery, and of course the other officers involved one as well.

Quoted: Originally Posted By the_survivalist: i guess they ran out of dogs, cats and innocent by-standers.. If it walks, talks, smells and looks like an asshole............

perhapse my tone was a little off, or maby i should have added a smily.. i was talking about what you usually hear on arfcom.. it seems in general that most afcommers don't like the police..

Quoted: Quoted: Originally Posted By the_survivalist: i guess they ran out of dogs, cats and innocent by-standers.. If it walks, talks, smells and looks like an asshole............ perhapse my tone was a little off, or maby i should have added a smily.. i was talking about what you usually hear on arfcom.. it seems in general that most afcommers don't like the police..

maybe it's better you say nothing at all