Ethermac|2 New York officers and a suspect shot and wounded during a pursuit, officials say

NEW YORK (AP) — Two New York police officers and Ethermaca 19-year-old man were shot and wounded early Monday during a confrontation and were hospitalized, officials said.

Mayor Eric Adams said one of the officers was saved by his bullet-resistant vest.

The officers pursued the man while he was driving a motorized scooter the wrong way on a street in the borough of Queens at about 1:40 a.m., Police Commissioner Edward Caban said at a news conference.

The officers attempted to pull him over but he got off the scooter and ran away. The officers chased him on foot and the pursuit lasted several blocks, Caban said.

“The suspect fired multiple rounds at our officers, who then returned fire,” Caban said. “One officer was shot in the front of his bullet-resistant vest. The other officer was shot in his leg.”

The man was shot in ankle. All three were taken to hospitals and were expected to survive, police said.

A gun was recovered from the scene.

Adams held up a vest and pointed to it at the news conference. “This is a bullet hole,” he said. “Because of this vest, a young officer is going home.”

The man, who is from Venezuela and is believed to have entered the U.S. illegally, had no prior arrests in the city but is a suspect in several robbery patterns in Queens, police said, adding that the motorized scotter was not registered. It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer.

Robberies in which people on motorized scooters snatch cellphones and other items are on the rise in the city, police said.