An off-duty veteran transit cop shot and wounded an alleged groper during a violent struggle today in a Harlem subway station, police said.
The 40-year-old officer was chatting on an uptown D line platform on West 125th Street and Nicholas Avenue after he had gone shopping when an 18-year-old girl yelled that she had been groped on the mezzanine around 12:30 p.m.
Police said that a 13-year-old girl also started yelling, “Mommy, the man groped me!” The girl’s hysterical mom shouted “Police!” at a ticket agent standing nearby, cops said.
Cops believe the teens were attacked by 22-year-old pervert Jacob Sanford of The Bronx, law-enforcement sources said
Police said that at some point during the incidents, a furious witnesss yelled, “You pervert, why don’t you grab someone your own age!”
The off-duty officer walked over to the women and identified himself, and the 18-year-old quickly pointed out the alleged perv sitting on a bench between the uptown C and D trains, police said. The officer told the mother of the young teen to leave and call 911 for back-up.
The cop identified himself to Sanford and ordered him to the floor, placing the suspect’s arm behind him, police said. Offiicials said witnesses told cops that they then saw Sanford pick up the officer as if he was going to flip or body-slam him, cops said. Both the express and local train arrived, and at this point, the cop believed that he was going to be tossed onto the tracks, officials said.
During the tussle, the off-duty cop’s gun went off, and Sanford was struck in the lower back, cops said.
Witnesses later told cops they heard the off-duty officer scream during the scuffle, “Police! Get down! Get down!”
Sanford was rushed to Harlem Hospital in the stable condition. Police said he had an extensive background with 19 prior arrests, including two separate felony assaults on Bronx cops, as well as robbery and reckless endangerment.
The officer, a 19-year veteran, was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital and treated for trauma.
Police said Emergency Services Unit cops recovered a 7-inch folding knife with a 3-inch blade on the train tracks, which Sanford identified as his. Charges were pending.