A city police officer is recovering after being shot in both legs in Jamaica, Queens last night, and police say they are talking to a person of interest in the case. Sergeant Craig Bier is a 15-year member of the NYPD who has earned 65 medals over his career. His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Bier is the 10th NYPD officer to be shot this year.

The following is a statement by NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly:

At approximately 10:30 Wednesday evening, sergeant Craig Bier and his partner detective Nicholas Romano, both assigned to the queens gang unit, were driving eastbound on 107 Avenue and south on Jamaica Avenue, when they attempted to stop a man on a bicycle, who, when he saw the officers, began to flee in the opposite direction.

He got off the bike and ran down a narrow alley between a house there and a tall, chain-link fence which enclosed a parking lot. It’s believed the suspect climbed the fence, and jumped onto the roof of a white van that was parked in a lot in an attempt to escape onto 107 Avenue.

Sergeant Bier, who had already run back to 107 Avenue to block the gunman’s escape route, exchanged gunfire with the suspect – who fired four times – striking the sergeant in both legs. Sergeant Bier returned fire – shooting six times.

Sergeant Bier collapsed on the sidewalk along the fence line. Detective Romano, who had been pursuing the suspect along the side of a two-family house at 167-12 Union Hall Street, heard the shots and ran to assist his fallen partner.

A Queens South Impact team in the area heard the gunfire and drove in the direction of the shooting, saw Sergeant Bier on the sidewalk, put him in their vehicle and rushed him here to Jamaica hospital. En route, Police Officer Kyle Miller, a certified E.M.T., applied pressure to Sergeant Bier’s wounds.

Scores of police officers, including emergency service personnel, began an intensive hunt for the suspect. We are searching for a person of interest and searching for that individual now.

A Ruger nine-millimeter pistol was recovered in the rear of 167-11 107 Avenue, not far from where Sergeant Bier was shot. Sergeant Bier, who is 44, has a total of 65 medals, 14 for meritorious police duty.

This is the type of officer the public should thank God they have working for the New York City Police Department. I’d like to thank the staff here at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center for the excellent care they provided Sergeant Bier and for the great work they do every day for the community at large.

(YWN Desk – NYC)