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Japanese Tourist Struck by Stray Cop Bullet in Drug Raid

By DNAinfo Staff on March 29, 2012 10:48am  | Updated on March 30, 2012 1:48pm

The 25-year-old victim (wearing a gray sweater) was grazed by a police bullet during a drug raid in a Flatbush apartment on March 29, 2012.
The 25-year-old victim (wearing a gray sweater) was grazed by a police bullet during a drug raid in a Flatbush apartment on March 29, 2012.
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DNAinfo/Theodore Parisienne

By Trevor Kapp and Wil Cruz

DNAinfo Staff

BROOKLYN — A Japanese tourist visiting friends in a Flatbush apartment was hit by a stray police bullet during a drug bust in the same building early Thursday, police and witnesses said.

The unidentified woman, 25, was walking out of the bathroom of a second floor apartment at 3003 Clarendon Rd., near Nostrand Avenue, about 6:30 a.m. when cops burst into a flat a floor above, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Friday.

"I just heard a big sound, and that was it," said Marcus Cruz, who was hosting the woman in his second floor home.

"Once I heard a bang, I just jumped up," Cruz added. "I didn't hear no gunshots."

Cops from the Brooklyn South Narcotics unit were executing a warrant for drugs in Apt. 3F when one of the cops began struggling with a suspect, sources said. At some point, the officer's gun discharged, according to police.

"It went through the bed and through the floor into the apartment below," Kelly said Friday in a briefing at Police Headquarters.

The blast could be heard throughout the building, neihghbors said.

"I heard a big band," said Cerissa Hayes, 35, a third-floor resident who lives across the hall from the apartment that was raided. "I heard a big bang. I thought it was my apartment."

The round ripped through the floor and into into Marcus' home, grazing the victim in the forearm, sources said.

She was taken to Kings County Hospital, where she was treated and released.

A few hours after the incident, cops escorted the victim back to the Clarendon Road building. Clearly shaken, she ignored questions from reporters.

"She was kind of nervous and shocked," Cruz said, adding that the visitor had been in town only a few days.

Kelly spoke to the victim after the shooting.

"She seemed to be in good spirits," he said.

The victim had a scheduled flight to Trinidad, Kelly said. Cops gave her an escort to the airport, the commissioner added.

"We made certain she was able to make that flight," he said. "She didn't seem to be upset by the incident."

Police arrested Ernesto Ortiz and Chanel Spence, who live in the third-floor apartment. Kelly said there were eight "buys" at the apartment, including seven for crack and one for marijuana.

Ortiz, 28, who police said struggled with the officer, was charged with resisting arrest, criminal use of drug paraphenalia, criminal possession of a controlled substance, obstruction of governmental administration and unlawful use of marijuana; Spence, 29, was charged with criminal use of drug paraphenalia, criminal possession of a controlled substance and unlawful use of marijuana, police said.

Natasha Barnett, 28, who used to live with Ortiz, claimed there was no drug activity in the home.

"He doesn't sell drugs," she said. "I don't know of him selling drugs."