EAST VILLAGE — The two detectives who were injured in a violent struggle that ended in the shooting death of a suspect have been released from the hospital, police said.
Detectives Vincente Matias, 55, and Harold Carter, 57, were sent to Bellevue Hospital on April 25 with minor injuries after trying to arrest a suspect involved in the robbery of a City College student last week, according to the NYPD.
The detectives tracked the suspect — identified by sources as 22-year-old Felix David — to an apartment located at 538 East Sixth St., police said.
The building operates as a halfway house for people with mental illness and run by a nonprofit called The Bridge. The organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
David attempted to escape from his sixth-floor apartment and climbed down the fire escape, officials said, but the detectives caught up with him in the lobby, where they got into a physical struggle.
Police sources said David grabbed one of the detective’s radios and used it to beat him in the head during the five-minute scuffle. One of the detectives pulled out his gun and fired, shooting David in the torso, according to the NYPD.
David was taken to Beth Israel Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Matias and Carter were treated for head injuries, police said. Carter also injured his shoulder in the altercation, according to the NYPD.
Both detectives had served in the NYPD for more than 20 years and were based out of the 26th Precinct in Harlem, according to police.
It was unclear when they were released from the hospital.
Police said David had confronted a 21-year-old woman he knew while she was in class at City College last week. He pulled her out of a presentation and began arguing with her in the hallway before punching her in the face and body before stealing her purse and running away, police said.
