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." more ›

Yesterday afternoon, police officers shot and wounded a subway panhandler after he stabbed a cop with a screwdriver. Apparently the panhandler first went to the undercover cops and asked for one a cigarette. The Post reports, "The 26-year-old officer [Tyrone Barrionuevo] flashed his badge and identified himself. Moments later, the crazed smoker pulled out the 6-inch screwdriver and tried to plunge it into the cop's chest near his shoulder." The incident occurred at the Utica Avenue subway station in Crown Heights. more ›