NYPD Cop Shoots, Wounds Man In Suspected Car Theft

New York City NY

25 January, 2021

10:25 AM

Description

NEW YORK CITY — A car theft came to violent end along a Queens street when a cop opened fire at the stolen vehicle, wounding one man, authorities said. NYPD Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes detailed the Sunday night incident in an early morning conference. The whole affair escalated as cops tracked down a stolen car and came into contact with two men inside, she said. "As the officers exited the marked police vehicle, the suspects accelerated in reverse at a high rate of speed into a marked police van," said Juanita Holmes, NYPD's chief of patrol. "One officer discharged his firearm and struck a 28-year-old male in the chest." Watch as @NYPDChiefPatrol provides preliminary details on the police involved shooting in the @nypd103pct in Queens. pic.twitter.com/S3G001HD5m— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) January 25, 2021 Medics rushed the man, who was a passenger in the car, to Jamaica Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition, Holmes said. They also arrested a 21-year-old man who drove the car, she said. The shooting is the fifth involving cops this year, according to a New York Daily News report. An unnamed witness interviewed by the Daily News contradicted Holmes' account and said the stolen vehicle wasn't moving when the cop fired. The incident began with a 911 call about a fight at 9:35 p.m., Holmes said. Officers arrived to 101st Avenue and spoke with a man who said he left his keys in his car, only to have two other men hop inside it and drive away. Cops tracked the man's cell phone, which was still inside the car, to 97th Avenue between Allendale Avenue and Liverpool Street, Holmes said. It's there that they spotted the stolen car and the shooting unfolded, she said.