SARASOTA, Fla. -- A Sarasota police officer is on paid leave Monday morning after a shooting incident overnight.
It happened just before 1 a.m. Monday. Police say following three business burglaries over the last three days, an officer and an officer in training were patrolling the area around 12th Street west of North Tuttle Avenue.
The report says the officers tried to talk a bicyclist, 35-year-old Thomas Gick of Bradenton, who was riding without a light. That's when the officers say Gick pulled out a pellet gun.
One of the officers, later identified as Officer Adam Arena, fired several shots in self-defense, hitting the man in both legs. He was treated at the hospital.
Neither officer was hurt.
Officer Arena, who has been with the Sarasota Police Department since 2011, has been placed on paid administrative leave.
Once released from Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Gick will be transported to the Sarasota County Jail and charged with one count Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer.
