Wounded officer leaves hospital
Richard Decoatsworth, who was shot last week during a traffic stop, left the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at noon today.
At noon, followed by relatives, including his parents and sister, Richard Decoatsworth left the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and was greeted by numerous fellow police officers.
Decoatsworth, 21, was seriously wounded by a close-range shotgun blast after a traffic stop last week. Today, he said he was "feeling great," despite what he described - gesturing toward bandages on his neck and left chin - as injuries that looked worse than they were.
He said he was eager to return to police work and summed up his actions last week as "just doing my job."
Decoatsworth was fired upon Sept. 24 after he approached a motorist who was driving a battered blue Buick suspiciously at 9:05 a.m. in West Philadelphia, Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said.
After he was shot on North Farson Street near Market Street, Decoatsworth, bleeding heavily from his wounds, pursued the culprit on foot while returning fire. Several blocks later, he collapsed on the 100 block of Paxon Street and radioed for assistance, Johnson said.
Decoatsworth underwent several hours of reconstructive surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania that day, police said.
Squadrons of police and SWAT teams flooded the neighborhood, with some of the officers searching on rooftops. They arrested Antonio Coulter, 20, whom neighbors had identified.
Coulter was found in a brushy alley between Paxon and 52d Street. Police identified him as the gunman and recovered a sawed-off shotgun hidden in the weeds about 25 feet away.
Coulter, who lives on the block where the shooting happened, was to be charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and other offenses.
Homicide Inspector Joseph Mooney called Decoatsworth heroic for undering the pursuit under remarkable conditions.
"Because of that, that's what led to the quick apprehension of this person," Mooney said.