A St. Louis police officer shot a fellow cop — and his lawyer says it was due to the color of his skin

A St. Louis, Mo., police officer is recovering from a gunshot wound to the arm after responding to a scene and being fired on by one of his fellow officers instead. And a lawyer for the injured officer says it was the victim’s race that caused him to receive the bullet.

Last week, the unnamed officer saw and heard the end of a car chase in his neighborhood, according to FOX2 St. Louis. He was off-duty at the time. The off-duty officer is black.

A stolen car with three suspects in it had crashed in his neighborhood, leading to a short exchange of gunfire between the suspects and the police. Two of those suspects have been arrested; one remains at large.

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When the off-duty officer heard the exchange, he equipped his service weapon and left his home to render assistance to officers at the scene. When he approached officers on the scene, he identified himself to two of them, who called him closer after recognizing him.

But a third officer, only identified as a white male and an 8-year member of the department, fired on him. The unnamed officer has told police investigators that he “feared for his safety” and “did not recognize” the black off-duty officer.

Officers involved are on routine administrative leave as the incident is investigated.

Rufus J. Tate is an attorney for the shot officer. While Tate’s client is not giving interviews, Tate made the following statement:

“In the police report you have so far, there is absolutely no description of any type of threat he perceived. So we have a real problem with that. But it also presents a bigger problem that has been a national discussion for the past two years — that’s this perception that a black man is automatically feared.”