Police: Officer Was Wounded By Friendly Fire In Bronx Shootout
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A bullet that wounded an NYPD officer in the Bronx this past weekend was friendly fire from an officer's gun, but a suspect who also allegedly fired has still been charged.
Christopher Rice, 19, has been arrested on charges of assault on a police officer, menacing and criminal possession, police said.
The incident started around 2 a.m. Saturday inside what police called an illegal nightclub operating in a building at 2505 Third Ave. in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, police said.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said 25-year-old Officer Sherrod Stuart was assigned to the plainclothes anti-crime patrol with his partner when they responded "to numerous 911 calls reporting a large fight in the streets with guns, bats and knives."
When police arrived on the scene, Stuart and his partner started chasing Rice who opened fire, Bratton said. Stuart was struck in the ankle, and police said Monday that the bullet that struck him was fired not by Rice, but by another officer.
Rice was also firing at the time, but did not hit the officer, police said. He was between two officers at the time, police said.
Officer Stuart returned fire and struck the suspect four times, according to Bratton.
Rice was rushed to Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in serious condition.
Stuart was also hospitalized in stable condition. His wounds were not life-threatening, officials said. The 40th Precinct tweeted a picture of Stuart smiling from his hospital bed on Monday.
Five people from the melee were also treated at hospitals for stab wounds, Bratton said, and four guns were recovered from the area.
Rice has five prior arrests, Bratton said, including one on Friday morning for fare beating. Bratton said Rice had been released from court at 11 p.m. Friday night, just three hours before the shooting.
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