Man Who Called 911 And Shot Officers Surrenders
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BENNINGTON, N.Y. (AP) – A man who called 911 shot a sheriff’s deputy and police officer as they arrived at his home and held police at bay for 12 hours before surrendering Thursday morning.
The officers’ injuries were not life-threatening.
Joseph Cordier Jr., 30, was taken into custody about 6 a.m. after authorities used a gas canister to coax him out of his home in the rural town of Bennington in Wyoming County. He was being questioned at the sheriff’s office several hours later.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Greg Rudolph, 30, and Attica village police officer Andy Houghton, 32, were sprayed by a shotgun blast while walking up the driveway to the home in Bennington, 24 miles east of Buffalo, shortly after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Rudolph was struck in the face and shoulder, while Houghton was hit in the leg.
“Sergeant Rudolph fell to the ground,” Attica Police Chief William Smith said. “Officer Houghton pulled him and himself behind a car for cover. Officer Houghton called for help on the radio and they somehow made their way across the road and behind a tree.
“Once darkness set in, they were able to make their way to a house across the road,” Smith said.
In the meantime, dozens of state police officers, sheriff’s deputies and Attica police officers converged on the scene, surrounded the house and kept watch overnight. A few families were evacuated.
“Basically, they waited him out,” said Smith, who said officers were hesitant to rush the house in the rural blackness.
Houghton was treated and released from Wyoming County Community Hospital. Rudolph underwent surgery. His condition was not available from the hospital Thursday morning, but Smith believed it to be good.
Cordier has a criminal record, authorities said.
Rudolph and Houghton were the third and fourth law enforcement officers shot in the line of duty upstate in the last few weeks. New Hartford Police Officer Joseph Corr, 30, was shot and killed while pursuing suspected robbers near Utica Feb. 27. State Trooper Andrew Sperr, 33, was killed March 1 in a gun battle with two bank robbers in the rural hamlet of Big Flats, midway between Corning and Elmira.
