An off-duty New York state trooper shot a teenager who was carjacking her at knifepoint at a gas station near the Cross County Parkway in Yonkers, police said.
According to video surveillance seen by The Journal News/lohud, the trooper had just finished putting gas in her car at the Mobil station at Kimball and Midland just before 12:45 Sunday afternoon, April 26, when the teen stepped off a wall he was leaning against, came around the car and accosted her. He pushed past her to get into the drivers seat and as she tried to open the door he slammed it closed. Before it took off she appeared to pull out her gun, step towards the car, reach through the partially open window and fire a shot.
The teen then started driving, pulling her along for a few feet before she let go. She did not fall. He then drove towards the back of the gas station, slammed through a Dumpster, a storage shed and a fence before the SUV dropped over a small ledge into the parking lot of a Midland Avenue apartment building.
The teen got out and ran off.
A news release issued by Yonkers police said the trooper called 911 and the teenager was taken into custody by city police officers just down the block near 1328 Midland Avenue. A knife was recovered from him, police said. The release did not reference the trooper reaching into the window and shooting but said she fired a shot that hit the teen in the left arm and entered his torso.
Police did not identify the trooper. Beau Duffy, a spokesman for the state police, also would not but said she is a 12-year veteran of the agency assigned to New York City. He said she suffered minor injuries and was treated at a hospital and released.
Duffy referred questions about the carjacking to Yonkers police. He would not answer questions about state police protocols for firing into a car, saying there was an administrative investigation underway by the agency.
The 17-year-old Yonkers resident, who was not identified because of his age, was taken to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. An arraignment was delayed Monday while he was still being treated, the Westchester District Attorney’s Office said.
Police said he would be charged with first-, second- and third-degree robbery and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, all felonies, and second-degree menacing, a misdemeanor.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Off-duty trooper shoots teen during carjacking at Yonkers gas station
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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