LI Man Shot By Police After Allegedly Dragging Officer With Car Seeks Independent Investigation

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island man shot by police after he allegedly dragged an officer with his vehicle following a traffic stop was arraigned Friday at criminal court in Riverhead.

On Jan. 17, Suffolk police pulled over 34-year-old Michael Schear in a Patchogue parking lot around 2 a.m. on suspicion of driving drunk.

As an officer approached his car, Schear allegedly took off, dragging the officer with his vehicle, police said. The officer managed to free himself and then followed Schear.

After a three-mile pursuit, the unarmed Schear was shot in the shoulder while sitting in his stopped vehicle by the unnamed officer, WCBS 880's Mike Xirinachs reported.

"So he's seated in his car, he drives away, the officer gets -- quote, unquote -- dragged, and then they shoot him. When did they learn that we was intoxicated?" Schear's attorney, Steve Politi, said. "He's very nervous about the allegations, he's also nervous that the facts keep changing, he's also nervous that nobody's investigating the fact that he got shot."

Politi wants an independent investigation of the incident, calling the officer who wounded his client "a danger to the community."

As for his client, Politi said, "He's sorry that he got shot, you'd be sorry too if you got shot."

Bail was set at $125,000 cash.