NYPD Officer Andrew Dossi, shot twice while chasing robbers in the Bronx, leaves hospital

NYPD Officer Andrew Dossi, shot in the line of duty while chasing down robbers in the Bronx earlier this month, waved his fist in victory at fellow officers as he was released from a Manhattan hospital Friday.

Dossi was greeted with rounds of hearty applause and whistles while the 8-year NYPD veteran was wheeled out of Mt. Sinai Hospital, with his family at his side.

An NYPD color guard and about 100 department members -- top brass, uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives -- saluted Dossi as he went to a waiting van.

Dossi, whose left arm was in a sling protected by an NYPD rain jacket, lifted himself out of his chair as his 8-year-old daughter hugged him. Dossi will undergo physical therapy at home before returning to the job.

Dossi, 30, an Army reservist who served in Iraq, suffered two gunshot wounds -- to his left elbow and the left side of his back. He and other officers were involved in a shootout with two grocery store robbers on Jan. 5 that spilled out into a Fordham Heights residential neighborhood in the 46th Precinct. Also injured was Officer Aliro Pellerano, 38, who was shot in the left arm and left lower chest area above the abdomen. Pellerano was released from the hospital last week.

A Bronx County grand jury indicted Jason Polanco and Joshua Kemp, both of the Bronx, this week in the shootings and robbery.

Polanco, 24, was charged with attempted murder in the shooting of Dossi and Pellerano. He also was charged with robbery and criminal use of a firearm.

Kemp, 28, was charged with robbery and burglary for jumping over the store counter to grab cash from the register, according to the indictment.

Patrick Lynch, leader of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, who visited with Dossi before his release, told reporters: "Today is an important day. We want to thank all the doctors that have helped bring back Officer Dossi."

Lynch has come under fire from some union members for his criticism of Mayor Bill de Blasio. Lynch has accused the mayor of not supporting the rank-and-file amid a string of anti-police demonstrations across the city.

Lynch, however, said he was encouraged by the mayor's recent remarks that he would veto a City Council proposal to make chokeholds illegal. That proposal comes after a grand jury decided not to indict an NYPD officer in the use of a banned apparent chokehold on Eric Garner, who died while being arrested on suspicion of selling untaxed loose cigarettes last summer in Staten Island.