Police arrested one man but are still looking for two others involved with Monday's violent traffic stop in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. When police officers Russel Timoshenko and Herman Yan approached over a BMW SUV with stolen license plates, shots rang out from the car, injuring both officers. Twenty-nine-year-old Lee Woods was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault on a police officer and criminal possession of a weapon. The two other men being sought have criminal histories; from the NY Times:
Dexter Bostic, 34, one of those being sought, first went to state prison in 1990 for assault, robbery and sodomy, officials said. He got out in nine years, but went back for three more in 2001. On parole until 2009, he was working at a Long Island car dealership last week when his parole officer last visited him, officials said.
Robert Ellis, 34, the other suspect still at large, first entered state prison in 1992, at age 19. He was convicted of first-degree rape and sodomy, corrections officials said. Prosecutors in Queens said Mr. Ellis and an accomplice entered a woman’s home and sexually assaulted her.
Woods was identified by a "greasy" fingerprint left on takeout food wrappers left in the SUV, which was left at Lefferts and Kingston, a few blocks from Lefferts and Rogers, where the shooting took place. Woods allegedly said, "I didn't know they were going to shoot anyone. We were out eating chicken!" Woods was the driver, while Bostick and Ellis were the passengers. A source told the Daily News, "He says Bostick is on parole and freaks out and starts shooting. Woods' story is a classic one - he's just driving and everything goes crazy around him." Woods' girlfriend is Bostick's sister.
A police source calls Bostick and Ellis "bad, bad guys" and notes that they may have been involved in a "murderous spree" of crime in Queens, Brooklyn and Nassau County. Authorities now believe that Bostick may have fled the city, possbily to North Carolina where he has family. The Post reports that Bostick called friends right after the shooting, asking for ways out of the city. "Bizarrely, [a] call [Bostick made to a friend in the Rockaways] was inadvertently picked up by authorities during a wiretap involving a separate case."
Bostick, if arrested for the stolen vehicle, would have faced life in prison, with the three strikes law. Now he faces many, many more serious charges. His brother Lee Hutchinson said he fully cooperated with the police, "If he did what they say he did, so be it, God bless him. He made his bed.” Newsday reports, "Across the city, meanwhile, everyday police operations took a backseat to the manhunt for Bostic and Ellis" - hundreds of detectives are working the case.
Officer Timoshenko is in grave condition; he was shot twice in the head, suffering brain damage. A friend tells the Post that the family is upset with doctors for telling them to take Timoshenko off life support and wants a second opinion. The friend said, "There seems to be brain activity. When his mother talks to him he would cry. He's fighting. We don't see Russel giving up."
Officer Yan, hit in the arm and his bulletproof vested chest, was released from the hospital yesterday. He told reporters, "I believe in miracles. I hope he recovers fully. I will recover fully. I'll be back on the street again. I hope the same thing happens to him." The Post details the surveillance footage of how Yan reacted after being fired upon: "With nothing to shelter him from the gunfire, Yan is seen on the tape ducking and weaving, trying to keep his body small so it would not be struck by the fusillade."
Photograph of Lee Woods being escorted from a police precinct last night by Adam Rountree/AP
