The second New York Police Department sergeant shot and wounded by a robber during a chaotic arrest on the Lower East Side was released from the hospital Saturday, to the applause of fellow department members.
Sgt. Carl Johnson of the 5th precinct flashed a smile and gave a thumbs up to lines of applauding officers as his colleague pushed him out of Bellevue Hospital in a wheelchair, with his father at his side.
“Feeling good. Feeling good,” the 43-year-old sergeant replied when reporters asked how he was feeling. “(I’m) a lot better than when I came in.”
The 16-year veteran said he had his, “brothers and sisters in blue” to thank as he recuperated from the violent ordeal.
Johnson shook hands with NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Tania Kinsella, before hopping in an NYPD van and leaving with his father.
The sergeant’s release came roughly two days after police say he and another sergeant were shot and wounded by 22-year-old robbery suspect, Joshua Dorsett.
Dorsett, an alleged member of the Up the Hill gang, raided a mah-jongg parlor on Canal St. near Eldridge St. at about 4:15 p.m. Thursday, sticking up several women and running off with purses and cash.
Responding officers, including Johnson, and Sgt. Christopher Leap, 34, of the 7th precinct, caught up with the bandit at Delancey and Eldridge Sts., with the help of witnesses at the scene.
Cops threw Dorsett against a taxi to arrest him when he pulled a gun from his pants pocket and opened fire striking Johnson and Leap, with one round, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
“The officers instruct him, ‘Let me see your hands’. A struggle begins for the firearm and then you hear the gunshot go off,” Kenny said.
Johnson was struck in the groin and Leap suffered a graze wound. Both officers were taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
Leap, who has served 11 years on the force, was released from the Kips Bay hospital Thursday night.
Officers recovered a loaded .45 pistol and cash on Dorsett following his arrest, Kenny said.
Dozens of officers filled the courtroom Friday night as Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Melissa Lewis ordered Dorsett held without bail on charges including attempted murder, robbery, and criminal possession of a weapon.
“The defendant was tracked on video surveillance, leaving the establishment and is seen counting cash nearby,” Assistant District Attorney Merielle Dee said at the arraignment. “He then goes into a clothing store where he attempts to purchase a change of clothes to disguise his appearance, was unable to find anything and eventually fled.”
Dorsett is a member of the Up the Hill gang, whose members were responsible for the execution-style slaying of a man and woman from the Lower East Side in 2022, police said.
The grisly double slaying of childhood friends Nikki Huang, 23, and Jesse Parrilla, 22, rocked lower Manhattan. Their badly burned bodies were found in a torched car on Shore Road near the Split Rock Golf Course in Pelham Bay. Dorsett was not charged with any crimes connected to the murders.
Dorsett has a previous arrest for drug possession in 2022 for which he is scheduled back in court on Aug. 23.
He was indicted in 2022 for selling crack six times to an undercover officer between March and June, according to court documents filed by the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.
The crack buys took place at various locations on the Lower East Side, and Dorsett pleaded guilty to criminal sale of a controlled substance. He received a sentence of three years probation in May, according to a spokesperson from the prosecutor’s office.
Before robbing the mah-jongg parlor, Dorsett had met earlier in the day with his probation officer, according to Kenny.
Mayor Eric Adams has praised the wounded officers for their heroism, saying the shooting highlights the risks of serving in law enforcement and the deadly threat posed by illegal firearms.
“This shooting underlines the danger that the men and women of all of our law enforcement communities in general but specifically the members of the NYPD face every day,” said Adams, who spoke to reporters at Bellevue after Leap’s release. “Dangerous people that are fully capable of using illegal weapons to cause harm not only to police officers but civilians in the city.
Commissioner Caban on Thursday noted how close the two sergeants came to death and thanked them for risking their lives to protect New Yorkers.
“Make no mistake, today could have turned out very different,” said Caban. “Our officers were out there doing the job we ask them to do. We’re very grateful that they’re going to be OK.”
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