By Joseph Goldstein
The New York Times Blogs
NEW YORK — A police officer shot and wounded an armed gunman early Monday during a running gun battle that spanned several blocks across the Lower East Side, the police said in a statement.
The shootout began after two officers, Thomas Richards and his partner, Thomas Dunne, got out of a police van on Columbia Street and approached a 25-year-old man, Luis Martinez, about 1:44 a.m., the police said.
Mr. Martinez, who was “acting suspiciously,” muttered something that the officers did not understand and suddenly began firing a gun at Officer Richards from 10 to 15 feet away, said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.
One shot struck Officer Richards’s gun belt, but the bullet was deflected by a spare ammunition magazine that Officer Richards was carrying. He was not injured. Officer Richards began returning fire at Mr. Martinez, and the officers chased him as he fled down Columbia Street.
As the officers pursued Mr. Martinez a block further east, to Baruch Drive, Mr. Martinez fired again at the officers, who both returned fire, the police said.
The pursuit continued another 200 feet along Baruch Drive to the front of 64 Baruch Drive, where Mr. Martinez lived. At that point, Mr. Martinez turned and began firing for a third time at the officers, whose return fire struck Mr. Martinez in the leg, the police said.
Mr. Martinez fled inside. Backup officers from the Emergency Service Unit tracked Mr. Martinez’s blood trail to his apartment. A woman there opened the door and indicated that Mr. Martinez was there and that he was unarmed, and he was quickly arrested, Mr. Kelly said. A 9-millimeter gun that the police said he had been carrying was recovered from a trash compactor in the building.
Mr. Martinez was in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital Center, the police said Monday morning. The police discovered a bag of marijuana on the ground near where the officers first noticed him, and investigators are trying to determine if it is connected to him, Mr. Kelly said.
“It was a very close call for Officer Richards,” Mr. Kelly said in a statement. “The magazine may have well saved his life.”
Mr. Kelly said that when he spoke with Officer Richards following the episode, he seemed “very happy and very upbeat.” Mr. Kelly added that Officer Richards is “a lucky young man.”
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