February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Stephen McKinley
An Irish-American police officer has been released from hospital after being shot in the leg by an apparently emtionally disturbed teenager.
Kevin Boyle, 43, of Massapequa Park, N.Y., was allowed home on Friday. Earlier, he and a colleague went to investigate reports of a disturbance in a home at 121-07 Newport Avenue in Belle Harbor, and found Timothy Fahy, 18, armed and holed up in a bathroom.
Fahy had apparently had an argument with his grandfather, a retired police officer, over a baseball bat. The youth, described by friends as “disturbed,” retreated to the bathroom and barricaded himself in.
When Boyle and his colleague arrived at the scene, they tried to negotiate with Fahy but failed to get him to come out. The officers broke open the door with a sledge ammer and fired a taser into the bathroom, attempting to disable the youth. Fahy, according to reports, fell to the floor and fired blindly at the officers, hitting Boyle on the left shin.
Boyle was taken to the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center for treatment. He was later visited by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. Bloomberg told reporters, “This is somebody who put their life in jeopardy to protect us.”
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Fahy remained in the bathroom for several hours before police were able to take him into custody.
Police recovered two weapons, both of which belonged to the grandfather and were licensed.
He was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, first-degree assault on a police officer, and criminal possession of a weapon. A friend told reporters that Fahy had been “depressed and angry,” and had dropped out of school recently.