NEW YORK — Two New York City police officers and a 19-year-old man were shot and wounded early Monday during a confrontation and were hospitalized, officials said.
Mayor Eric Adams said one of the officers was saved by his bullet-resistant vest.
The officers pursued the man while he was driving a motorized scooter the wrong way on a street in Queens around 1:40 a.m., Police Commissioner Edward Caban said at a news conference.
The officers tried to pull him over, but he got off the scooter and ran away. The officers chased him on foot for several blocks, Caban said.
He fired multiple rounds at officers, who returned fire, Caban said. One officer was shot in the front of his vest, and the other officer was shot in the leg.
The man was shot in the ankle and was taken to a hospital. Charges against him were pending. Both officers were treated at a hospital and released.
A gun was recovered from the scene.
Adams held up a vest and pointed to it at the news conference. “This is a bullet hole,” he said. “Because of this vest, a young officer is going home.”
The man had no prior arrests in the city but is a suspect in several robbery patterns in Queens, police said, adding that the motorized scooter was not registered. It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer.
Robberies in which people on motorized scooters snatch cellphones and other items are on the rise in the city, police said.