BELMONT — More than 100 members of the NYPD cheered as the plainclothes officer recently wounded with his partner by armed robbers was released from a Bronx hospital Wednesday.
Officers lined the entrance to St. Barnabas Hospital, clapping and cheering while three bagpipes played as Officer Aliro Pellerano, 38, was brought out in a wheelchair. Police shook Pellerano's hand and patted him on the back while he was pushed through the crowd.
Pellerano then got out of the wheelchair and walked on his own to a waiting SUV.
"It's amazing support having everybody in the borough come out, even officers from outside the borough," 46th Precinct Commanding Officer Philip Rivera said. "It's amazing."
Pellerano and his partner Officer Andrew Dossi, 30, both anti-crime unit officers in the 46th Precinct, had just finished their shift when they heard about a robbery at the Welcome 2 Yemen Deli Grocery, 363 E. 180th St., late Monday night.
The officers were searching the area with three of their colleagues when they noticed Jason Polanco duck into a Chinese restaurant near East 184th Street and Tiebout Avenue.
As they approached the restaurant, Polanco fired a round from .44 caliber revolver, which hit his accomplice, Joshua Kemp, in the right bicep, according to police.
Polanco then fired two more rounds, hitting Pellerano in his chest and left arm and Dossi in his left arm and back, police said.
Polanco managed to get away after carjacking a white Chevy Camaro.
A friend took Kemp to New York-Presbyterian Columbia Hospital, where he was questioned by investigators, who quickly became suspicious of his story.
Polanco, 24, was arrested Tuesday afternoon after being spotted walking near East Tremont and Westchester avenues. He was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, robbery, criminal possession of a weapon and assault.
Kemp, 28, was charged with robbery, grand larceny, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of stolen property.
Dossi remains in St. Barnabas in stable condition, an NYPD spokesman said. It was not immediately clear when he would be released.
"I'm happy that he went home. I'm holding up pretty good," said Sergeant Angel Gonzalez, who supervised the two officers and radioed in the shooting. "I feel good. I'm happy that he was able to walk on his own two feet to walk around, that he's able to go home."
