Teen Recovering From Accidental Police Shooting

Last Thursday afternoon, Darnell Williams was at the Utica Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, heading home from Frederick Douglass Academy, when he was shot in the knee. The gunfire came from two police officers' struggle with a reportedly schizophrenic subway panhandler, who had stabbed one of the officers in the chest with a screwdriver. The panhandler was reaching for one of the cops' guns, so the cop fought for control (the gun went off twice) and then the stabbed partner fired three times, wounding the panhandler—and also hitting Williams. The 17-year-old told the Daily News, "I ran as soon as I heard the fighting. I was still running when I felt a sting in my leg," and added that people on the platform were reassuring, "People were saying, 'Just relax. Everything is going to be okay.' I just fell down when I saw the blood." Williams' father, who said a police lieutenant visited to apologize, noting how his son is hobbling around on crutches, "It's going to take quite a while before he can go back to school."

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By Jen Chung in News on May 3, 2009 10:10 AM

Comments [rss]

donner

It sucks that he got shot in the leg, but why is that going to prevent him from going back to school in a timely fashion?

colonelcasey

It'd be an issue if his school didn't have an elevator. But if it does, he shouldn't be out for more than a few days.

nicemarmot

Wow. Pretty outrageous that they fired into a crowded subway platform. I mean, I understand that the cops need to protect themselves from psychos, but I think the safety of the innocent bystanders has to come first! They could have killed someone! And the poor kid's knee will probably be messed up for life - it's not like he did anything to deserve that, unlike many people posted on Gothamist, i.e. the bodega hammer kid.