NEW YORK (1010 WINS/AP) -- A New York City police officer remains in a medically induced coma Saturday following a fatal confrontation Friday in Brooklyn.At around 5:30 p.m., the officer was one of two cops who were flagged down by workers at the Gold Mine Nail Salon near the corner of Mother Gaston Boulevard and Sutter Avenue in Brownsville.
Police said it started when a man entered the salon to use the bathroom but instead started urinating on the floor. The officers then tried to arrest him and that's when 33-year-old Kwesi Ashun went into the salon and tried to interfere.
"One of the officers deployed a Taser, but it was ineffective in stopping the threat,'' Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison said. He said Ashun "continued his violent struggle with the officers by raising up a metal chair and striking one of the officers in the head.''
The officer fired at Ashun six times after efforts to subdue Ashun with a Taser were unsuccessful, Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison said.
Ashun was pronounced dead at the scene.
The other man has been identified as 26-year-old DeWayne Hawkins. He faces a slew of charges, including resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Police officials who spoke at a news conference at the hospital where the injured officer was being treated stressed the seriousness of his injuries.
"An attack on a uniformed officer doing his duty is an attack on society at large, and we can't have that,'' First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker said.
Harrison said, "This incident underscores the dangers officers face each and every day.''
Pat Lynch, the head of the Police Benevolent Association, added, "This police officer spent his career in our busiest precincts serving the community and he was set upon for no reason. There is never, ever an acceptable reason to attack a New York City police officer.''
Officials said the injured officer's partner was treated for ringing in his ears and released.
A state legislator from a Brooklyn district who was in the area at the time of the shooting described a scene of "mayhem.''
"Children were running,'' Democratic Assemblywoman Latrice Walker told 1010 WINS. "Families were afraid. My daughter was screaming.''
She added, "Our community is definitely traumatized today because this was a senseless death.''
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