An officer’s bulletproof vest saved his life after he was shot by a man who stole his gun during a scuffle outside a Philadelphia psychiatric facility Thursday afternoon.
The man had accepted that two officers would take him to the facility after he had been spotted walking in traffic earlier Thursday.
The officers did not handcuff the man because he agreed to be taken to the hospital, Commissioner Kevin Bethel said.
Once outside the facility, the man began combative and a scuffle ensued. The officers used a Taser but the suspect managed to grab one officer’s gun and shot the cop.
The other officer fired several shots, fatally wounding the suspect. Both officers were treated at an area hospital.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said that the first officer was shot “very close to the bottom of his vest.”
“But for an inch, we could be here under a different set of circumstances and facts,” Parker said.
