By Henry K. Lee
San Francisco Chronicle
FREMONG, Calif. — A Fremont police officer who was shot and wounded while trying to arrest an alleged gang member is now recovering at home after spending seven weeks at a hospital, a department spokesman said Thursday.
Officer Todd Young, 39, was shot twice in the pelvis by Andrew Barrientos, 20, as the officer was trying to arrest him Aug. 27 in East Oakland, police said.
Barrientos told investigators that he hadn’t known Young, who was in plainclothes, was a police officer. Authorities say Young identified himself. Barrientos has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.
The officer has undergone eight operations at Highland Hospital in Oakland. He was released from the hospital Monday and is now recovering at home with his wife, Nicole Young, and their two children, said Detective Bill Veteran.
Young must still undergo additional surgeries, according to his wife.
“Todd still has a long road ahead of him, but he has the kids and myself to see him through it,” Nicole Young wrote on a Facebook page dedicated to her husband’s recovery.
Veteran said, “We all are considering him and ourselves very fortunate. It was a tragic event. However, it’s going to turn out being a godsend that he’s still with us. Hopefully, he’ll be able to make a full recovery and return to work.”
Copyright 2010 San Francisco Chronicle