"We Had an Accidental Discharge"

A reader emailed us Monday afternoon, noting that there were at least twenty police cars and tons of officers outside of St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, but the NYPD wasn't saying anything - did Gothamist know what was happening? Short of hacking into a police scanner, Gothamist came up empty... until we heard that a high-ranking police officer had accidentally shot himself in the stomach. The commanding officer for Transit Bureau 3, Captain William Roge, was changing his guns in his office at the 145th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue stop, removing his .38 for a 9mm, and somehow, the .38 went off. The NY Times reports that it was hard to hear the shots over the subways, but when other officers heard, it seemed like "dozens of police officers" were on the scene.

The NYPD's Chief of Transportation Michael Scognelli explained, "We had an accidental discharge." This really isn't a laughing matter, but we did smirk at "accidental discharge." And Captain Roge is expected to make a full recovery.