As NYPD Officer Dalsh Veve continued to fight for his life Monday after being dragged more than three blocks by a stolen car, Police Commissioner James O’Neill asked New Yorkers to pray for the North Baldwin man and his family.
“We are not sure what is going to happen yet. Officer Veve is still in critical condition . . .,” O’Neill told reporters. “This is an extremely trying time for everyone, for his family and his friends, and all of the men and women of the New York City Police Department.”
Veve, 35, was critically injured at about midnight Saturday in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, police said, after he and other officers from the 67th Precinct responded to reports of shots fired in the vicinity of Tilden Avenue and East 53rd Street.
Upon interviewing people there, officers determined that the noise was from fireworks set off at a party, police said.
After Veve approached a parked Honda Civic to question the 15-year-old driver, the car sped off, police said.
Despite being dragged by the car, Veve managed to fire two shots, hitting the driver in the face, before the officer fell to the street, police said.
The wounded boy later walked into Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn to tell medical personnel he had been shot, O’Neill said at a news conference early Sunday at Kings County Hospital where Veve underwent surgery and remained Monday.
Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said Monday that investigators have not been able to talk with the teenager who has multiple prior arrests. Boyce said cops expected to charge the boy with assault and attempted murder.
Two women in the Honda, which was stolen from Valley Stream a few days ago, have been charged with hindering prosecution, police said Monday morning. The women were identified as Eboni Clinton, 19, and Jeron Oliver, 18, both of Brooklyn, police said.
A law enforcement source said Veve was in a medically induced coma to see if brain swelling could be reduced. More tests have to be done to see if Veve has brain activity, said the source, who didn’t want to be named.