NOT-OK CORRAL: Bullets flew at Brooklyn’s Old Gallery yesterday when an off-duty cop exchanged shots with another patron. (Seth Gottfried)
A skirt-chasing cop yesterday sparked a wild brawl in a Brooklyn bar, pumping shots into a jealous boyfriend who had swiped his partner’s gun, police sources said.
The 4 a.m. melee outside the dive bar Old Gallery, in Kensington, ended when off-duty Officer Jason Reynolds fired nine bullets at suspect Pablo Negron, 26, who allegedly shot at Officer Albert Lloyd, the sources said.
Negron was struck in the torso and leg, but last night was expected to survive.
“Two off-duty cops got in a verbal dispute with some others over a girl,” Old Gallery owner Cory McErlaine told The Post. “Someone said to the girl, ‘Hey, you’re cute,’ and that’s when it started.”
The trouble began when Reynolds, assigned to the 70th Precinct anti-crime unit, tried his best pick-up lines on Negron’s girlfriend while hanging out with Lloyd after their 6 p.m.-2 a.m. shift, the sources said, but she wasn’t interested.
A short time later, outside the bar, the cops saw Negron’s buddy Jonathan Leduc, 21, berating the woman.
Lloyd, 37, told Leduc to calm down, and Leduc barked back, “What are you looking at?” according to NYPD spokeswoman Kim Royster. Reynolds pulled out his shield and said, “I don’t want any problems! I’m a cop!”
That’s when Negron, who has prior arrests for drugs and weapon possession, allegedly sucker-punched Reynolds.
He then turned to Lloyd and allegedly put him in a headlock, causing the officer’s gun to fall to the ground.
Negron allegedly grabbed the gun and started firing wildly as Lloyd ran, but all nine of his shots missed.
Reynolds had his own gun drawn and shouted, “Drop the gun! Police!” said Royster.
Negron whirled around to confront Reynolds, who fired nine times, striking him twice.
In the confusion, another pal of Negron, identified by cops as José Rivera, 22, allegedly grabbed Lloyd’s fallen gun and ran away.
Police later found it on a nearby rooftop and arrested Rivera.
Reynolds’ blood-alcohol level was 0.04, an acceptable number under department guidelines.
Leduc’s mother, 47-year-old Felicita Perez, said her son told her by phone, ” ‘Mama, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,’ ” she said. “[He] has never been arrested. He’s a college kid.”
Negron was charged with attempted murder, while Rivera was hit with a charge of evidence tampering, police said.