Narcotics detective shot — possibly by friendly fire — in Bushwick, Brooklyn bust; one suspect hospitalized, one arrested, one at large

Cops wait outside the emergency room at Elmhurst Hospital, where an NYPD officer is undergoing treatment after being shot in Brooklyn Tuesday night.

An NYPD detective was shot in the shoulder, possibly by a fellow cop, when the pair opened fire on two crooks trying to speed away from a heroin buy-and-bust Tuesday in Brooklyn, police officials said.

The 37-year-old cop was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital after the 6:15 p.m. shooting in Bushwick and was expected to survive. One of the suspects was also shot and wounded.

The detective, identified by sources as Jon Gladstone, is the sixth NYPD officer to be shot in 2016, and the third to be hit in a possible friendly-fire incident.

“I’m thankful that the detective is stable, awake, and alert, and, all things considered, in good spirits,” NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker said at the hospital.

As the chaos erupted on Wilson Ave. near Troutman St., a witness heard a police officer scream, “I shot him! I shot him!”
Gladstone, who is assigned to Brooklyn North Narcotics, was in plainclothes, and had moved in on the suspects after an undercover officer bought $80 worth of “American Dream” heroin from them, police said.
 He and an unidentified sergeant, both 11-year veterans who graduated in the same NYPD academy class, used their car to block the drug dealers’ minivan from the front, while a second police vehicle pulled up behind, sources said.

The shooting took place at about 6 p.m., at the corner of Wilson Ave. and Troutman St. in Bushwick, police sources said.

Gladstone and the sergeant flanked the minivan and identified themselves as police, Tucker said. The culprits backed up, hitting the NYPD vehicle behind them, as Gladstone, who stood on the passenger side, reached in and tried to make the arrest, Tucker said. Then the minivan pulled forward, with Gladstone still partly inside.

The driver also tried to hit the sergeant as he pulled off, police sources said.

Both the sergeant and Gladstone started shooting, firing a total of four times, officials said.

The dealers’ vehicle kept going, but quickly hit another car and stopped, Tucker said.I heard a car crash, so when I looked I saw a cop with a gun and I got scared and I ran back inside my room,” said witness Nichi Perez, 19. “And I heard three gunshots and all you heard was the cops scream, ‘I shot him! I shot him!’ ” Suspect Oscar Vera, 45, was brought to Bellevue Hospital after taking three bullets — two in the leg and one in the arm, sources said. The second suspect, Geraldo Rodriguez, 51, was cuffed.

Cops said both have long rap sheets. A third suspect, who NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said was not in the car at the time, got away.

A source described him as a “steerer” who directs potential customers to the dealers. He may have carjacked a motorist about four blocks away to make his getaway, sources said.

Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce answers media questions at Elmhurst Hospital Tuesday night.

Raheem Preston, 36, a Fort Greene resident, said Gladstone’s chest and leg were covered with blood.The police (officer) was on the floor and they put him in an ambulance,” he said.

On Feb. 20, career criminal Frederick (Jamal) Funes, 34, blasted at Officers William Reddin and Andrew Yurkiw in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Yurkiw and Reddin, both plainclothes anti-crime officers, answered a call for backup after Funes fired a gunshot at a uniformed MTA bus driver at Quincy St. and Malcolm X Blvd., police said. Funes may have mistaken him for a cop, police said.

Yurkiw suffered a large bruise after Funes shot him in his bullet-resistant vest, officials said. Reddin may have been hit by friendly fire, officials have said.

On Jan. 9, Officer Sherrod Stuart was shot in the ankle by friendly fire after Christopher Rice, 19, opened fire during a wild street brawl in the Bronx, just blocks away from the Melrose Houses.