An off-duty police officer was wounded today in a gunfight that followed a traffic accident in The Bronx’s Baychester section, authorities said.
The officer, who was hit in the abdomen, was expected to survive, said police. He was in critical but stable condition at Jacobi Hospital.
“I think he’s in fairly serious condition,” a high-ranking police source said.
Witnesses said that at 12:25 a.m., a gray Lincoln sports utility vehicle was involved in some kind of traffic accident on Sexton Place, a short street near the No. 5 subway’s Gun Hill Road station.
Officials said that besides the officer, one other person was shot in the incident — a 21-year-old woman who was hit in the leg.
Witnesses said the shooting began when someone inside the Lincoln fired a gun at another man.
“The guy that was shot, when he hit the ground, he pulled out his gun and he fired about four rounds or so,” said a nearby resident. Those bullets smashed the Lincoln’s rear window as it sped north on Sexton toward Gun Hill Road, said the witness.
“He ran into a car that had the right of way,” the witness said. “I guess his car stalled out. He started again, and he backed up and he took off like a bat out of hell down Gun Hill Road.”
“The cops were here very quickly — they were here before we even got a chance to finish the 911 call,” said a second neighbor.
A third witness said the wounded man remained laid out on the road, flat on his back. “Apparently he was alive, because they were rushing to put him in a car and speed away,” he said.
The Lincoln didn’t get far — an hour later it could be seen smashed up at a nearby intersection.