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Albany Police officer Jonathan Damphier was released from Albany Medical Center Hospital on Wednesday, April 24, the agency announced.
Cameras were rolling as Damphier emerged from the hospital in a wheelchair accompanied by Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins. He received a round of applause from the dozens of law enforcement members gathered outside before being helped into a waiting ambulance.
The three-year department veteran was shot in the upper leg at around 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, April 17, in Albany’s Pine Hills neighborhood, yards from the College of Saint Rose campus.
Albany Police said Damphier was “ambushed” near the intersection of North Main and Western avenues after catching up to a vehicle that had fled a traffic stop for speeding.
As he approached the parked car, now unoccupied, the suspect appeared from behind it and shot him in the upper leg. He fired back, hitting the suspect. The gunman then shot himself and was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Hawkins later identified the suspect as 28-year-old Ameil Olayeni, of Albany. An autopsy found that Olayeni died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He also suffered a graze wound from Damphier’s service weapon.
According to police, at the time of the shooting Olayeni was on probation out of Albany County Court for a reckless driving charge.
Damphier suffered a gunshot wound to his upper leg, shattering his femur, according to a GoFundMe campaign. He underwent emergency surgery in which doctors inserted a rod to secure his leg, but were unable to remove all of the bullet fragments as they were too close to his femoral artery.
“Officer Damphier received blood transfusions following his days after surgery and is struggling to begin his physical healing,” organizer Lawrence Heid said.
Doctors told the family his injury will require months of physical therapy and he'll likely be off the job for "many months."
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan called the shooting “an act of depraved gun violence.”
“No one – especially not a public servant literally doing their job – should be forced to bear the trauma of an incident like this,” Sheehan said on Facebook. “In the coming hours and days we will do everything possible to ensure this officer’s speedy recovery and help those around him.”
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