UNARMED MAN FATALLY SHOT BY N.Y. UNDERCOVER DETECTIVE

NEW YORK--An unarmed man was shot dead early Thursday by an undercover
detective during a fight on a busy Manhattan street, officials said.

Patrick Dorismond, a security guard, was shot by Det. Anthony Vasquez as
the officer and two others attempted a "buy-and-bust" drug operation near
Penn Station and Madison Square Garden, Police Commissioner Howard Safir
said at a news conference.

One of the officers, all of who are Latino, approached Dorismond, who was
black, and another man in front of a bar, Safir said.

"He engaged them in a conversation relative to drugs," Safir said.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who also attended the news conference, said
Vasquez, 29, then came to the aid of the officer and his gun discharged.

Dorismond, 25, was hit in the chest and died at a hospital. No drugs or
other contraband were found on his body.

Safir said police were still investigating how the gun went off. Police
could not confirm witness reports that Vasquez was hitting Dorismond with
his service revolver when it went off.

The Dorismond shooting comes just two weeks after another undercover
officer fatally shot an unarmed man in the Bronx near where unarmed
immigrant Amadou Diallo was shot and killed last year by four white police
officers.

The officers in the Diallo case were acquitted, sparking outrage among
residents.