PHILADELPHIA — A plainclothes police officer shot and critically wounded a man who had wrestled away another officer’s gun during a struggle in South Philadelphia early yesterday, police said.
Lt. Ray Evers, a police spokesman, said that about 3 a.m. two plainclothes officers in a car spotted a man later identified as Cosmo Menniti, 29, casing cars in the area of 12th and Wolf streets.
The officers followed Menniti to Warnock Street near Wolf, where one officer got out of the car while the other circled the block, Evers said.
The officer in the car then heard two gunshots and raced to the scene, Evers said.
He said the officer saw his partner wrestling for his gun with Menniti, during which two more rounds were fired.
The officer then pulled his gun and fired four times when Menniti gained control of his partner's weapon, the spokesman said.
"He definitely had possession of the officer's weapon," Evers said.
Wounded four times in the shoulder and right arm, Menniti was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he was reported in critical but stable condition.
The officer involved in the struggle was treated at Methodist Hospital for minor injuries and released.
As is standard procedure, both officers will be placed on modified assignment during an investigation by Internal Affairs.