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   From: D-E-M-I-G-O-D@SHAW.CA   
      
   Shot cop's heroic tale   
      
   Sergeant took three slugs but refused to die   
      
   By MICHELE McPHEE   
   DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU CHIEF   
      
   The first bullet knocked the gun right out of Sgt. James Gentile's   
   hand. The second slammed into his bulletproof vest as he reached for   
   the weapon. The third tore through his stomach as he stood up and   
   squeezed off 10 rounds.   
   It was only then that the hero cop from the 75th Precinct called for   
   backup.   
      
   "This is the Seven-Five sergeant. I'm shot in the arm, I'm shot in the   
   chest," Gentile screamed over his NYPD radio. "Get me help."   
      
   Those were the first terrifying moments of a gun battle between   
   suspected drug dealer Renardo Powell, 25, and police along a stretch of   
   five darkened, labyrinthine blocks in Brooklyn on Wednesday night.   
      
   The shootout began minutes after Powell and his alleged accomplice,   
   Corey Thompson, 25, robbed another suspected drug dealer near 55 Church   
   Ave. in Flatbush.   
      
   When the robbers fled in a Ford Expedition livery cab, their victim   
   tailed them in his own car, calling 911 to alert cops - and dodging a   
   bullet fired by Thompson.   
      
   Gentile and his partner, Officer William Kennedy, spotted the white   
   Expedition by Jerome St. and Sutter Ave. in East New York.   
      
   "Pull to the curb," Gentile ordered over the radio car's loudspeaker.   
   "Hands on the wheel."   
      
   As Gentile and Kennedy approached, Powell suddenly leaped from the back   
   of the SUV, firing a 9-mm. automatic.   
      
   The cops returned fire. Despite being wounded, Gentile flung open the   
   police cruiser door, taking cover as he got off 10 rounds. Kennedy   
   emptied his clip and reloaded, shooting 20 bullets at the SUV.   
      
   Some of them hit their mark.   
      
   Thompson was in the backseat, shot in the leg. Another bullet went   
   through the back of the driver's seat, hitting livery driver Harlin   
   Marte in the back.   
      
   But Powell escaped, fleeing on foot up Sutter Ave. as a radio car raced   
   toward him and the shooting scene. When Powell saw the lights and   
   sirens, he fired at the car, police officials said.   
      
   "He fired at them before they even realized he was passing them. The   
   cops didn't see him running by," said a high-ranking police official.   
      
   More gunfire was exchanged.   
      
   By then, more cops had joined the chase. They caught up to Powell at   
   Jerome St. and Belmont Ave.   
      
   More bullets flew, and finally Powell was mortally wounded, shot twice   
   in the head, once in the arm and once in the leg, police officials   
   said.   
      
   In the battle, rookie cop Anthony Vidot was grazed by a bullet. He was   
   released from the hospital yesterday.   
      
   Police sources said Powell and Thompson ran a drug ring in upstate   
   Binghamton, using Marte, 24, as their regular driver, sources said.   
      
   Thompson and Marte were under arrest at Brookdale University Hospital.   
   They were charged with robbery, even as Marte's family and Fernando   
   Mateo, president of the Federation of Taxi Drivers, characterized him   
   as a victim.   
      
   "He was basically just doing his job," Mateo said. "He was a victim,   
   just like the police officers. When you go out [on a call], if that   
   passenger pulls out a weapon and tells you to drive, you do it."   
      
   But police sources said Marte admitted knowing his passengers were drug   
   dealers and even waited for them as they committed the earlier robbery.   
      
   Wednesday night's shooting was not Gentile's first. In 1996, he was   
   involved in a controversial fatal shooting during a car stop. He was   
   cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting of Aswan Watson, 23, who was   
   reaching under his car seat, leading police to believe he was grabbing   
   a gun.   
      
   Gentile was in stable condition at Jamaica Hospital last night. His   
   wife, Dawn, obviously shaken by her husband's brush with near-death,   
   said it sheds light on a lack of manpower in the 75th Precinct.   
      
   "He's doing fine," she said, as she nervously dragged on a cigarette   
   and sipped coffee. "We are just thankful he is alive. I hope people   
   appreciate what he does.   
   --   
   --   
   I intend to last long enough to put out of business all COck-suckers   
   and other employees of all institutions of the incarceration industry.   
   --   
   --   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)