By Ben Fractenberg and Tom Liddy
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — An off-duty cop shot a man suspected of groping a woman and a teenage girl in a Harlem subway station Friday afternoon, police said.
Gunfire erupted at the 125th Street station on the A, B, C and D lines just after 12:30 p.m., police and transit officials said.
According to cops, a 14-year-old girl told her mother that she had been groped in the station.
When the mom cried out for help, the officer, a 19-year veteran, came to their aide.
Police said that another woman approached the group on the station's mezzanine level and said that she too had been groped as she made her way to the platform.
The second victim pointed out the suspect to the 40-year-old officer, who went to the uptown D train platform to investigate.
There, he tried to arrest the man, but a struggle ensued. Police said that during the skirmish, the officer shot the man once in the torso.
Cops said that when the mom of the 14-year-old girl was on the phone with 911, she reported hearing the officer yelling "Police, get down" before the shot was fired.
The 22-year-old suspect, who was not immediately charged, was taken to Harlem Hospital in serious condition and the officer was sent to St. Luke's for evaluation.
Ana Cintron, 26, was on her way from John Jay College to The Bronx when transit workers announced that they would have to evacuate.
"I got nervous," she said. "I take the train every day. Now I’m stranded. This is the only train I can take home."
All northbound trains on the line were bypassing the station.
A and D trains were running local from 59th Street-Columbus Circle to 145th Street, according to the MTA.
Straphangers were told to expect delays.
