MICHAELLE BOND, INQUIRER STAFF
WRITER
An off-duty police officer shot
a man in the leg Saturday morning during a fight over dog feces left in the
officer's yard, police said.
The man was treated at a
hospital and released. The officer was treated at a hospital for cuts and bruises
on his head and released.
Police did not name the two men
but said the man who was shot would be charged with aggravated assault.
The officer was outside his
home shortly before noon on the 6400 block of Oakley Street in Lawndale when he
saw a dog defecate in his front yard, police said. He asked the dog's owner, a
39-year-old man from the 6400 block of Argyle Street, to clean up. After a
verbal argument between the two, the dog owner left.
When the owner returned a few
minutes later without his dog, the man and the officer got into a fight, during
which the man punched the officer several times in the face and head, police
said. The man pulled the officer's hooded sweatshirt over his head, leaving the
officer bent over as he continued to hit him from behind, police said.
The officer then drew his Glock
pistol from his hip holster and shot behind him, hitting the man in the right
thigh. The man was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center. The officer was
taken to Jeanes Hospital.
Internal Affairs will
investigate the shooting and the District Attorney's Office will review it. The
officer will be placed on administrative duty during the investigation.