Jan. 03--Bagpipers and applause from fellow officers greeted an injured Nassau County police officer late Tuesday morning as he was released from the hospital where he had been recovering from a gunshot wound sustained four days ago in a struggle with a suspect.
A Nassau police helicopter hovered nearby as the officer, shot in the leg in an East Meadow parking lot Friday morning, was wheeled out on a gurney and put into the back of an ambulance. Escorted by three patrol cars with lights flashing, the ambulance took the officer home from Nassau University Medical Center.
The officer was shot while struggling with suspect Dwayne Oxley, 41, of East Meadow, who was then fatally shot by a second officer, police said. Police have not identified either officer.
The injured officer, who had approached Oxley in a car because he was acting suspiciously, was struck in the leg by a bullet from his own gun as the suspect grappled with him for the weapon, police said. The second officer shot the suspect at least twice in the upper torso.
A police spokesman has said that the shooting was justified.
Oxley, who lived near the scene of the shooting, had served two state prison terms for burglary and robbery-related crimes, and had been scheduled to be in Queens Criminal Court on Tuesday to face burglary charges lodged against him in March, records show.
With William Murphy
Copyright 2012 - Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
