FLOWERPOT LANDS ON 2 OFFICERS AS THEY MAKE ARREST IN BRONX

Two police officers who were trying to arrest a man outside a Bronx
apartment building yesterday were slightly injured when they were hit by a
flowerpot that had been tossed from a sixth-story window, the police said.
The pot was thrown from a window of an apartment building at 3300 Bailey
Avenue in the Kingsbridge section shortly before 6 P.M., as two narcotics
officers and a housing officer were arresting the man, Master Hawkins, 18,
the police said.

A 44-year-old woman and six teen-agers were later taken into custody,
though no one was immediately charged, said Chief of Department Louis R.
Anemone. Their names were being withheld pending charges, Chief Anemone
said. The narcotics officers had followed Hawkins from a building where
drugs were known to have been sold, said Sgt. Cory Cuneo, a police
spokesman. When the officers approached, Hawkins struggled and a housing
officer who was nearby ran over to help subdue him, Sergeant Cuneo said.

The flowerpot was thrown from the sixth floor as the officers handcuffed
Hawkins, Chief Anemone said.

"It was absolutely no accident," he said. "They dropped a 10-pound
flowerpot. It was a well-placed shot."

The pot hit the housing officer, Eamon Farrell, on the side of the head and
shoulder, Chief Anemone said. One of the narcotics policemen, Officer
Robert Horneman, was struck on the shoulder, said Mark Watin, a Fire
Department paramedic. The injured officers were taken to Jacobi Medical
Center, where they were treated for head, neck and back pain.

"They were very lucky," Watin said. "If it had hit them flush on the head,
they would be dead right now."

Housing officers are trained to watch for debris thrown from above -- a
fairly common occurrence, according Timothy L. Nickels, a spokesman for the
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. In 1993, a housing police officer was
killed when a man hurled a 30-pound bucket of spackling from a building in
Washington Heights.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski