NEW YORK — NYPD cops shot and wounded a machete-wielding man threatening a motorist over a parking spot in Coney Island, police said.
An officer suffered a deep cut to his thumb during the fierce exchange Thursday, which involved the suspect chasing the officer around a car outside the DMV on West Eighth Street near Sheepshead Bay Road in Coney Island, police sources said.
Three officers were near the DMV, which is down the block from the 60th Precinct stationhouse, when they saw the suspect argue with a motorist over a parking spot the suspect felt he had dibs on.
When the suspect pulled a large knife — which one police source described as a machete — the officers pulled their weapons and demanded he drop the blade, police sources said.
The suspect was chasing one cop around the offending car parked in the space, slicing him in the hand with the machete, when one of the officers fired off four rounds, hitting the blade bearer in the leg, police sources said.
Another shot went through the window of a nearby parked car, officials said. It was not immediately clear if the cop being chased was the one who fired the shots.
Medics rushed the wounded suspect to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where he is expected to survive. The wounded officer was taken to Coney Island Hospital and will need stitches.
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