Confrontation with cops ends in death of man, 22

A 22-year-old man is dead after a police officer shot him after the man allegedly went for his partner's weapon in Fern Rock last night, police said.

At 8:44 p.m., two officers responded to a report of a man exposing himself near a home on Marshall Street near Spencer, said spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore.

Police said that the man became combative and that a struggle ensued between him and one of the officers. During the struggle, police said, the man reached for the cop's handgun, discharging it once. The clip fell from the gun and it was at that time the other officer fired at the man, striking him once in the chest, police said.

The man, who was not identified by police, was pronounced dead at the scene. Both officers were treated at Albert Einstein Medical Center for abrasions and one for a possible broken wrist.

Relatives and friends of the man, whom they called "D. Vito," said he couldn't have posed much of a threat to the cops.

"His knees were all messed up. He walked with a cane," said one relative, who asked not to be identified.

A childhood friend who lives on the block and also asked not to be named, said D. Vito was homeless and would sometimes stay at his place.

"He was having family problems," he said.

Meanwhile, around the corner at Fisher Park, 7th and Spencer streets, investigators combed through foliage after reports of gunshots being fired there shortly after the fatal police-involved shooting. *