Man shot after fleeing ambulance, swinging pipe at officers: NYPD

NEW YORK (AP) - A Staten Island man was shot and wounded when he swung a metal pipe at police officers after behaving erratically and bolting from an ambulance, according to the NYPD.

The man was undergoing surgery early Saturday and was in stable condition, Deputy Chief Charles McEvoy told reporters.

Police haven’t released the names of the man or the officers, who were taken to a hospital for evaluation. No body camera or other video of the encounter has been made public so far.

Police were called to the man's Staten Island apartment around 10:30 p.m. Friday to respond to an emotionally disturbed person, McEvoy said.

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He said they found him behaving erratically, talked to him for several minutes and brought him to an ambulance. As emergency medical technicians attended to him, the man took off and ran back into his apartment, McEvoy said.

Officers followed him in, and according to McEvoy, the man grabbed a 2.5-foot (0.75-meter) metal pipe and began swinging it at them.

McEvoy said one officer fired, hitting the man in the torso.

New York, like some other U.S. cities, has been grappling in recent years with how to respond to emergency calls about people in distress. A test program that began last month in parts of northern Manhattan sends EMTs and social workers, instead of officers, to some calls, though police still respond to those involving a weapon or "imminent risk of harm."