Shot during domestic quarrel, NYC police officer’s girlfriend now also charged with assault

Shot in spat, NY officer’s girlfriend also charged

NEW YORK — A domestic spat that ended with a police officer shooting her girlfriend has spurred assault cases against both of them.

The wounded woman, Erica Legall, was released without bail after her arraignment Tuesday. Her domestic partner, Officer Ekeythia Dunston, was arraigned last week and released on $1,000 bail.

The two started arguing over inappropriate text messages while returning home from a night out early on Aug. 9, and the quarrel turned physical in their Harlem apartment, Manhattan prosecutors say.

Legall, 42, hit Dunston, 32, in the head with an iron, and Dunston responded by using her service revolver to shoot Legall in the shoulder and leg, they say.

Dunston’s family says she’s a niece of former Chicago Cubs All-Star shortstop Shawon Dunston.

Her lawyer, Edgar De Leon, has said his client was trying to protect herself. He told a court last week that “obviously, there are extenuating circumstances here.”

But Legall’s lawyer, John Orlando, denied the allegations against her and said Dunston wasn’t justified in shooting her.

“It’s clearly our position that (Dunston) went beyond just a lovers’ quarrel,” he said by telephone Tuesday evening.

Legall has been released from a hospital but is having difficulty walking, he said.

Dunston has been suspended from her New York Police Department job without pay for at least 30 days. She has been on the force for eight years.

(This version CORRECTS punctuation in lovers’ quarrel.)