Teen-Ager Is Shot in Arm After Police Pursuit in Park

A 17-year-old was shot by police Tuesday after he pointed a handgun at a patrol officer who was chasing him in a patrol car through the park, police said.

The youth, whose name was not released because of his age, was shot once in the right forearm and was in stable condition at a local hospital, police said.

Investigators said the patrol officer, whose name was not released, was driving on McFadden Avenue when he saw the youth and an unidentified woman cross the street against a red light.

After seeing the police car, the couple split up, with the woman disappearing down Center Street and the youth taking a route through Jerome Park, Lt. Robert Helton said. The officer followed the boy, Helton said.

“Something that blatant you can’t let go without talking to them,” Helton said.

The officer drove slowly north through the sparsely populated park, calling at the youth to stop, Helton said. The officer finally stopped his car near the east edge of the park and got out, Helton said.

At that point, police said the youth turned around and raised his right hand, pointing a Colt .38-caliber revolver at the officer. Police did not disclose whether it was loaded.

The 17-year-old then dropped his gun and ran, slipping through a hole in a cyclone fence and down several feet into a dry canal that borders the park, police said. He ran about 100 yards before a second officer caught him.

The first officer told police investigators that he remembered firing once, police said.

But two witnesses at the park reported hearing between five and 10 shots as they saw the wounded teen-ager running.

Mike Haslam was working at a construction site in the southeast corner of the park when, he said, he heard several shots. When he looked up, Haslam said he saw the youth running toward the fence as more shots rang out.

“Sure seemed to me like they shot off an awful lot of bullets to stop this guy,” said Haslam, a superintendent overseeing the construction of a water well in the park.

As with any officer-involved shooting, the Orange County district attorney’s office will begin an investigation, Helton said. Charges against the teen-ager are pending until the district attorney and police complete their investigations.