Two cops hit by ricocheting bullet after third detective fired at charging pit bull

nydailynews ^ | Jan 5, 2010 | BY Kerry Burke, Rocco Parascandola and John LauingerDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

[smokingfrog]

Two NYPD detectives suffered nonlife-threatening gunshot wounds in the Bronx Tuesday night when a fellow detective shot at a pit bull and the gumshoes were hit by ricocheting bullet fragments, police said.

Detectives Thomas Guarino and Thomas McHale and a female undercover, all assigned to narcotics, pursued a suspect into an alleyway along Davidson Ave. in Fordham about 8 p.m., police said.

With the narcs on his tail, the unidentified suspect scooted into a basement-level apartment at the end of the alley, and allowed the pit bull to slip out of the doorway.

The dog charged at the detectives, prompting the female undercover - whom cops refused to name - to fire a single shot, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said.

The 9-mm. round hit the pit bull's right front paw and split into fragments, which ricocheted throughout the narrow alley.

Guarino suffered a graze wound to the face, and McHale received a graze wound to the left leg, police said.

Both were treated at Jacobi Medical Center for nonlife-threatening wounds. Scores of NYPD officers flooded the hospital last night in support of their wounded comrades.

"We're just praying for a speedy recovery," one cop said after checking on one of the wounded detectives, who were also visited by Mayor Bloomberg.

The basement-level apartment into which the fleeing suspect darted is in a six-story building near W. Fordham Road. The detectives were part of a plainclothes unit investigating neighborhood complaints of drug sales outside the building.

Two undercover detectives, including the woman who fired the shot, canvassed the front of the building but found no evidence of drug-dealing. As they went to leave, eight thugs surrounded them and chatted them up as if they were rival dealers.

[basil]

Those darn pit bulls! They’ll shoot you every time!

[Still Thinking]

So by the dog version of the felony rule, the dog is now guilty of assaulting a police officer and has to be put down.

[Jeff Chandler]

ping bull

[familyop]

"The 9-mm. round hit the pit bull's right front paw and split into fragments, which ricocheted throughout the narrow alley."

I wish the new cops knew as much about ballistics as the old cops. Use big bore semiwadcutters (or better yet, wide flatnose bullets), driven slowly enough to avoid blowing through the pitbulls very fast. Those bullets won't bust up or change course so easily. Of course, you'll have to use revolvers to fire them, but a little more training on the ranges won't hurt you. If the admin. weenies won't let you do that, go with .45 ACPs. And always be aware of who is where before firing.

[TChris]

Stupid Jedi Pit Bulls!

[familyop]

And any semiwadcutter used in such work should be a Keith design, BTW. A full wadcutter would probably be even better for such close work.

[humblegunner]

Two NYPD detectives suffered nonlife-threatening gunshot wounds in the Bronx Tuesday night when a fellow detective shot at a pit bull

This is what comes of rogue behavior.

They should have called in an air strike.

[smokingfrog]

Probably a JHP that went through the dog’s paw and hit the pavement. Would a wadcutter fragment in a situation like that?

[NormsRevenge]

What did I tell ya ?

Be careful out there!

[ZX12R]

Maybe develop a special dog killing round.
Maybe use the taser instead.
Maybe stop hiring sissies to carry guns.

[Still Thinking]

Be careful out there!

He's a fine one to talk. Didn't he expire in flagrante delicto?

[familyop]

A soft lead, slow moving wadcutter would probably flatten into more of a blob and move slower than the JHP in that kind of situation. It would probably do the skip shot effect afterward (”skip shot,” see old anti-riot tactics w/ shotguns)—that is, while ricocheting slower, also ricochet much lower (because of the flattening, like shotgun shot).

IMO, police ballistics testing should clarify all of that. I’ve experimented with this and that out here in the boonies, but there are also quite a few documents from old timers around the Web. I also gathered some knowledge from classes during the ‘90s and before (academy, metallurgy, reloading, hillbilly science, etc.).

Here’s one that would be helpful for ballistics in general (a little off-topic but not affected by so many special pecuniary interests and valuable nonetheless) but without anything on ricochets, that I’ve seen.

Shooting Holes in Wounding Theories:
The Mechanics of Terminal Ballistics
http://www.rathcoombe.net/sci-tech/ballistics/wounding.html

[Neidermeyer]

Here's the perp!

[Neidermeyer]

Here’s a better (more interesting) story from the NY Daily News ,, Playboy model killed , body burned in Miami Dumpster.. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/01/07/2010-01-07_body_of_model_paula_sladewski_found_burning_in_miamidumpster_in__boyfriend_a_per.html

[Towed_Jumper]

“Scores of NYPD officers flooded the hospital last night in support of their wounded comrades.”

Good grief, you would think from that reaction that these two cops just held off the whole Chinese Army in a firefight. Obviously no one on the NYPD has ever been in Arizona on the openning day of dove season —everyone gets hit with shotgun pellets raining down from every direction.

The pitbull should be allowed to sue the NYPD for a the cost of a doggie wheelchair while his paw heals up.

...sorry, I’m just having a hard time expressing much pity to cops injured by pi$$ poor shooting exhibited by another of New York’s “finest.”

[familyop]

"Maybe develop a special dog killing round."

A big, soft, lead cup point would probably do it, too, without fragmenting so much and hitting bystanders. Regarding the posted story, there might have been some prior disagreements between the police involved, too. Only wild speculation about possibilities here, of course. ...no accusation against the officer involved.

I remember a chick in another case, who faked a car stop and shot herself with the intention of blaming a man. She had tried to set the man up with another scheme before that, but the feds were already watching. Organized crime and feminism: what a pair. But that's part of the oldest profession.

[ZX12R]

I remember a chick in another case, who faked a car stop and shot herself with the intention of blaming a man.

Holy smokes. I guess if your willing to shoot yourself to get someone in trouble, you can't call that one a sissy.

[familyop]

"The 9-mm. round hit the pit bull's right front paw and split into fragments, which ricocheted throughout the narrow alley.

Guarino suffered a graze wound to the face, and McHale received a graze wound to the left leg, police said."

It appears from the story that the pit bull had run past the two detective men. Then the detective woman fired at the pit bull in front of her, ricocheting the fragments up and from the rear into the other two detectives (who were turning to observe the spectacle from the other side of the pit bull). The dog was between her and the men.

[familyop]

Yeah, it’s crazy. But quite a few women who had problems with men/families have pulled those kinds of stunts believing that they would somehow be perceived as heroes in some masculine sense.

The feds are hated by many of the municipal-minded folks but have been like guardian angels to more than a few good men. :-)