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Off-duty cop shot in Bronx while walking dog

BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA | rocco.parascandola@newsday.com

6:21 PM EDT, May 9, 2008

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An off-duty Bronx cop dodged serious injury during a shootout on a Bronx street corner early Friday, his forehead grazed by a round from a gunman who wanted to know why the officer was walking his dog, police said.

Michael Williams, 25, was arrested a short time later at an apartment he shares with his mother and charged with attempted murder, police said.

The officer, Antwane Reeves, 42, identified Williams in a lineup, police sources said.

Williams, who spoke as he was led by police from the 47th Precinct, suggested he had acted in self-defense.

"He threatened my life," the suspect said.

Police sources, however, said Reeves had acted appropriately and that the incident happened so quickly he didn't have a chance to identify himself as a cop.

The officer, who suffered a 11/2-inch-long graze wound on his forehead, walked into Jacobi Medical Center on his own and left a short time later after being treated.

"He was extremely lucky," one police supervisor said.

Police said Reeves, an 11-year veteran assigned to the 48th Precinct, was walking his dog near East 233rd Street and White Plains Road, in Wakefield, at about 12:35 a.m. when Williams demanded to know what the officer was doing.

"Why the ---- you walking your dog over here," Williams said, according to a source.

"---- you," the officer yelled back. "I'm walking my dog."

At that point, police said, Williams retreated to a nearby building and returned moments later wearing a red jacket and carrying a 9mm handgun. He fired without saying a word, they said.

Reeves, armed with his off-duty 9mm pistol, returned fire, and a total of more than 10 shots were fired, police said.

The suspect ran away, ditching his jacket and gun in a chicken restaurant on White Plains Road.

Reeves, a former corrections officer, is an active cop in his precinct, the supervisor said.