PAGER, PHONE SAVE COP FROM BULLET

An undercover narcotics detective escaped serious injury after a
bullet deflected off his cellular phone and pager and only grazed him
during an ambush inside a Bronx apartment building late Tuesday night,
police said.

The wounded officer, whose name police department officials did not
release because he works undercover, was in stable condition at Jacobi
Medical Center after being pistol-whipped and grazed on the left side
of his abdomen by a bullet around 11:50 p.m. Tuesday, police said.

The detective walked into 1270 Fteley Ave. in the Bruckner section of
the Bronx with another undercover narcotics officer and a man who told
them he could sell them drugs, police said.

When they got inside a first-floor apartment, they were met by two
other men - one carrying a gun, the other wielding a knife - who were
working with the man posing as a drug dealer, said Sgt. Gerry Falcon,
a police department spokesman.

The men attacked the officers, who fought back, police said. During
the struggle, the gunman allegedly pistol-whipped one of the officers,
then shot him.

But instead of going into the officer's body, the bullet hit the cell
phone and pager he was carrying in a jacket pocket.

The two undercover officers returned fire but didn't hit any of the
three alleged attackers, who fled.

Outside the building Sgt. Robert Delaney, 38, and officer Wilbert
Morales, 32, who were backing up the narcotics officers, encountered
the fleeing men and fired on them. Delaney shot twice and Morales shot
eight times, Falcon said.

One suspect, Shawn Howell, 21, was shot in the leg during the
exchange.

Another, Raymond Thomas, 22, suffered minor injuries when a bullet
fragment, presumably from a ricochet, struck his wrist.

It was unknown last night which officer's shots hit the
suspects.

A third suspect, Shane Palmer, 20, was arrested uninjured, police
said.

Howell was in stable condition in Lincoln Medical and Mental Health
Center last night, police said. Thomas was treated and released to
police.

The three men were charged with robbery and criminal possession of a
weapon.

Other charges are pending, police said.

The men were awaiting arraignment last night, said Gloria Cullen, a
spokeswoman for the Bronx district attorney's office.