Last night at 10 p.m., an off-duty police officer who was shot in the hand when he struggled with a domestic violence suspect. It turns out that Police Officer Joseph Koch was at a Father's Day barbecue in Jamaica, Queens, when he heard a woman screaming "Don't kill me" and then, as he approached the house, saw a boy run out and say his mother was being attacked by an ex-boyfriend.
Koch went inside the house with his firearm drawn. The NYPD says that Joseph Bernazard, 40, attacked him and tried to grab Koch's gun. During the struggle, three shots were fired—Koch was ht in the hand while Bernazard was struck in the stomach. Both were taken to Jamaica Hospital and are in stable condition.
The victim of the assault had an order of protection against Bernazard because he previously tried to strangle her.
According to the NY Times, "Moments before the shooting, he had been outside the home, banging on the front door and demanding to be let in; he eventually climbed through a window and began beating the woman." She had facial bruising and a 7-inch laceration on her head that required numerous stitches to close.
