[NYPOST] A 13-year-old boy described by authorities as a "hardened criminal" with "no regard for life" shot a police officer during a foot chase in Florida — and was maimed in the exchange of fire.
In the movies the hero gets shot in the arm.
The shootout unfolded after 5 p.m. Wednesday in the city of Lakeland as police officer Jamie Smith, formerly of the NYPD, was responding to a 911 call reporting a drive-by shooting a couple of blocks from Simpson Park.
New York's finest, on the job in Florida...
Smith spotted the white Dodge Avenger mentioned on the call and pursued it in his patrol vehicle until the car stopped and three teens jumped out and took off running.
We've seen that on every episode of C*O*P*S, I think.
One of the suspects was seen brandishing a gun, Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor said during a presser.
"Look out! He's got a gun!"
Smith, who has served on the force in Lakeland for two years after being recruited from New York, followed the armed suspect, later identified by the police chief as 13-year-old Wesley Dalmas.
When I was thirteen, I think I still had my paper route...
| I was fourteen when I started mine, but I was a late bloomer. We kept it in the family until child #4 graduated high school, I believe. |
"Where are you, Smith?"
"Some sort of slum!"
"Oh. The Affordable Housing units. We're on our way!"
Smith repeatedly orders the teen to stop and drop his weapon, but Dalmas refuses to comply.
"Don't nobody tell me whut to do!"
As the officer rounds a corner, he runs into Dalmas crouching in wait for him. The teen points his Taurus 9mm semi-automatic handgun
| ...that’s awfully specific... |
[BANG!] [BANG!] [BANGETY BANG!]
Taylor said Smith was struck in the left foot and returned fire, but Dalmas managed to get away.
"Ow! My foot!"
The maimed officer called for backup and continued the pursuit despite his injury.
[HOBBLE HOBBLE HOBBLE LIMP]
Other officers who rushed to the scene caught up with Dalmas, who Taylor said tried to flee and opened fire on them.
"[BANG!] Youse'll never take me alive, coppers!" [BANG!]
"Okay."
[BANG! BANG!] [BANG] [AND BANG!]
"Ow! My stomach! My leg! My thigh!... I quit!"
During the shootout, the 13-year-old was shot in the stomach, leg and thigh. He was taken to Tampa General Hospital, where he was treated and released.
"Tweedy, Muldoon, put yourselves down for more range time!"
"Sorry, Chief."
"Yeah. Sorry."
Smith was administered first aid by his colleagues and taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center to be treated for the gunshot wound and broken bones in his foot.
"Kinda like bein' back in New York City, huh?"
"Nah. We got palm trees here."
Taylor said he was expected to be released home in the coming days.
"Well, yeah. It's just a shot to my foot. Ruined my shoe though."
Taylor hailed his officer’s actions during the pursuit as "nothing short of heroic."
"He kept right on hobblin', he did! That takes guts when yer foot's broke!"
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd also spoke at the presser and revealed that Dalmas had been arrested back in January in connection with a car burglary, during which he stole a gun, reported the local outlet Lkldnow.com.
"Started his career earlier than most, he did."
"Loan me twenty bucks!"
"Shuddup!"
"Who was that?"
"His foot. It's broke!"
The youngster had been given probation instead of a prison sentence in that case, which Judd said he did not "appreciate."
"Where'd they get that judge? New York?"
The sheriff said Dalmas and his two cohorts, who were on probation at the time of Wednesday’s incident, were smoking marijuana and driving around Lakeland "looking for someone to shoot."
The very definition of Feral Yoots.
Related:
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Lakeland: 2022-12-31 Florida business partners die after shooting each other in dispute at work, police say
Lakeland: 2020-09-04 Nisswa mayor tells cop 'you're as bad as the fucking dinks in Minneapolis,' gets arrested [VIDEO]
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