SOUTH BRONX — One of the NYPD officers who was shot during a patrol of a South Bronx housing project Thursday night was released from the hospital Friday afternoon at around 4:30 p.m. to a crowd of cheering police officers.
In a video released by the NYPD, Officer Patrick Espeut, 29, was seen exiting Lincoln Hospital in a wheelchair before standing up and walking unaided to a waiting police van.
Despite the near-fatal encounter, Espeut could walk without assistance and had no visible signs of being wounded.
Our NYPD hero, Officer Espeut on his way home to continue recovering after being shot last night in the Bronx. pic.twitter.com/wkHt2EpHlp
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) February 5, 2016
Espeut, 29, was shot in the face Thursday night during a vertical patrol of the Melrose Houses in the South Bronx. Malik Chavis, 23, shot the officer and his partner and then killed himself in his girlfriend's apartment.
Espeut's partner, Officer Diara Cruz, was also injured in last night's shooting. Cruz is in stable condition, but has not yet been released. She was awaiting surgery to remove a bullet lodged in her leg as of Friday morning.
