NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- An NYPD officer was released from the hospital early Wednesday, hours after he was shot and wounded by a man who police shot and killed.
The officer, Dennis Vargas, 32, walked out of Lincoln Hospital around 2:30 a.m.
The eight-year veteran, who works on a Bronx public safety team, was shot in his arm as he and another officer chased a man at Third Avenue and Claremont Parkway in the Claremont section around 10:45 p.m. Tuesday.
The two officers were patrolling in uniform and in an unmarked police car when they spotted the man on the sidewalk.
The officers approached the man for unknown reasons, and he began to run, police said at an early morning news conference attended by Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
The chase lasted about a block, at which point there was an exchange of gunfire between the officers and the suspect near Bathgate Avenue and Claremont Parkway.
During the shooting, the officer was struck in his left arm and the man was struck in the head.
The suspect, identified as 25-year-old Rameek Smith, was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in critical condition and later died. His address was listed as a Staten Island homeless shelter, though he also had family in the Bronx, police said.
A 9mm Glock handgun was recovered on Smith, according to police, who said it was stolen from Richmond, Virginia, in June of last year.
Smith had been released on his own recognizance as he awaited a June sentencing after pleading guilty in December to possession of a weapon.
Police said while Smith was out on five years’ probation for a July 2016 robbery on Staten Island, he was caught with a .32 caliber handgun while jumping a turnstile at a Coney Island subway station in March 2020.
“Here’s the problem,” a clearly outraged Adams said at the press conference. “The arrest was March 2020, and for 20 months after the arrest he remained on the streets.”
“The number of shootings that we’re responding to every night is despicable,” the mayor added. “But everyone is looking at the attention that we’re doing to stop fare evasion for people who are carrying guns.”
“You have family members in this city that are saying, ‘We’re tired of living in violence.’ And they’re up against those who believe we should be spending our attention protecting criminals,” Adams said.
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