MYFOXNY.COM -
An NYPD housing officer shot in the chest while on patrol in the Lower East Side of Manhattan is alive because of his bullet-resistant Kevlar vest, according to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
Officer Brian Groves, 30, and another man got into a confrontation at about 3 a.m. when he was shot, said city officials.
"Not realizing he was shot, Officer Groves continued the pursuit to the 15th floor, where he fell and his assailant escaped," Kelly said. "Officer Groves was doing what so many officers do every day; stopping a suspicious individual to question him. The vertical patrol that he and his partner engaged in is a common, proactive police practice to give some measure of safety to residents of public housing. In this particular instance, there had been reports of disorderly persons and narcotics activity in the stairwells there."
The married father of two young children was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
The officer's vest stopped the bullet, which entered at the heart level, Kelly said during a news conference at Bellevue Hospital Thursday morning.
The shooting comes a day after an MTA police officer shot and killed a man who stabbed him in the eye at a Long Island Rail Road station.
The gunman is described as 20 years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall, with corn rows and beads.
He was wearing a long black T-shirt, long red basketball shorts with a cream colored stripe, added officials.
Groves is the ninth New York City police officer to be shot in the line of duty so far in 2012, Kelly said.
The citizens group COP SHOT says it is offering a $10,000 cash reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.
Contact 1-800-COP-SHOT or the NYPD Crime Stoppers hotline, website or via text messaging:
www.nypdcrimestoppers.com
Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477)
Text your tips to CRIMES (274637), then enter TIP577
