NEW YORK — Two New York City police officers and a 19-year-old man were shot and wounded during a confrontation early Monday and were hospitalized, officials said.
Mayor Eric Adams said one of the officers was saved by his bulletproof vest.
Officers chased the man as he rode a motorized scooter the wrong way on a Queens street about 1:40 a.m., Police Chief 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 several 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 taken to a hospital. Charges were pending against him. Both officers were treated at a hospital and released.
A firearm was recovered at the scene.
Adams held up a vest and pointed to it at the news conference. “This is a bullet hole,” he said. “This vest makes a young officer go home.”
The man had no previous arrests in the city but is a suspect in several robberies in Queens, police said, adding that the motorized scooter was not registered. It was not immediately known if he had an attorney.
Robberies in which people on motorized scooters take mobile phones and other items are on the rise in the city, police said.