NYPD: Officer shoots, wounds man who struck cop with car

A police officer shot a man in the chest who had struck an officer with a car while driving away from a police stop in Brooklyn, according to the NYPD.

The shooting happened around 4 a.m. Saturday as four NYPD officers were responding to a 911 call reporting gunshots nearby, Deputy Chief John Chell, who’s in charge of detectives in north Brooklyn, said at a news conference near the scene.

A few minutes before the shooting, the officers arriving to the call, at Broadway and Lorimer Street, saw three vehicles being driven away at high speed, through a red light, Chell said. Then, at Meeker and Vandervort avenues, the officers spotted the three vehicles, including a white Honda CR-V, each of which appeared to have been damaged in crashes.

Two officers approached the Honda, asked the driver to turn off the ignition and get out of the car. Soon afterward, the driver fled, throwing one of the officers across the street and injuring his knee and leg. Two officers fired their guns, including the officer who was struck, according to Chell, who said the encounter was recorded on the officers’ body-worn cameras. The footage was not publicly released.

About 20 minutes later, a man, age 21, arrived at nearby Wyckoff Heights Medical Center seeking treatment for a gunshot wound to his chest. Hospitals are required by New York State law to report "at once" such injuries to the police.

Chell said the man at the hospital is believed to have been the Honda driver. He was in stable condition.

A nearby nightclub may also have been involved in the episode, Chell said, but he did not elaborate or name the club.

“So, we have two officers who discharged their firearms. We have the driver of the white vehicle. However, we do not have the white vehicle,” Chell said.

Asked whether anyone else was in police custody, Chell said: “We have a few people that we’re talking to right now.”

The names of the 21-year-old man and the officers involved were not disclosed.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.