Officer's vest stops a deadly bullet

For the second time in a month, a Boston police officer was shot yesterday, as a tactical team burst into the Roxbury apartment of an alleged drug dealer said to carry a .45-caliber pistol jammed in his belt.

Officer Kevin Ford, 49, was wearing a bulletproof vest that spared him from serious injury when he was struck just above the waist by a bullet fired through a bedroom door, Boston police said.

Despite being shot, Ford, a 10-year veteran of the department's entry and apprehension team, helped break down the bedroom door and "kept going," according to state Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly.

Police said that the suspect, James A. Nolan, 25, pulled his pregnant girlfriend in front of him as officers rushed into the bedroom of the third-floor apartment. With his face and body dotted with red lasers from the squad's gun sights, Nolan surrendered before any officer fired a shot.

"Ford not only was hit, but he knew he was hit and he didn't fire and kept going," said Reilly, who visited Ford and his colleagues after the 6 a.m. incident. "These are people that put their lives on the line for the rest of us constantly and what happened today is a testament to their professionalism and to their restraint."

After being read his rights, Nolan allegedly admitted shooting Ford, "but I didn't know he was police," he said.

Ford and the other officers were helping State Police assigned to Reilly's office and the District 4 Drug Control Unit serve a no-knock search warrant issued by a Superior Court judge, officials said yesterday. Police said the drug case is still being investigated.

Nolan was ordered held on $50,000 cash bail during an afternoon arraignment in Boston Municipal Court attended by his father, a doctor, and his mother, a nurse.

Nolan, a graduate of Newton North High School who attends classes at Wheelock College in Boston, pleaded not guilty to seven charges, including assault with intent to murder and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Based on Nolan's claim that he earns $10,000 a year, a lawyer was appointed to represent him for the case.

Officers said they found $1,600 cash in the apartment, various amounts of marijuana packaged for delivery, a bulletproof vest, and the 45-caliber pistol loaded with eight rounds, one in the chamber.

During their investigation, police said, they learned that Nolan routinely kept the gun on him and had a pit bull in the apartment, on Massachusetts Avenue near Tremont Street. The building is owned by Nolan's mother, Bettie Fordham-Nolan, according to court records and Boston assessing records.

According to police accounts, the events unfolded as follows:

Around 6 a.m., the entry team broke down the heavy wooden doors of the three-story brownstone at 515 Massachusetts Ave. A surveillance camera was perched over the front door. Knowing they had to go to the third floor, officers announced their entry while ascending the stairs, with Ford in the lead with a ballistic shield.

The team tossed a "flash bang" grenade into the third-floor hallway before forcing their way into Nolan's apartment. Officers were outside the bedroom when the suspect allegedly fired one shot through the closed door, narrowly missing another officer before striking Ford. With Ford still leading, the team pressed ahead, aiming at Nolan and his girlfriend, Danaysa Garcia, 25, who prosecutors said is seven months pregnant. She is not charged or suspected in the case.

Ford and other officers subdued Nolan. Only then did Ford say he'd been shot.

Officers hustled him out of the building and into a waiting Boston ambulance.

The bullet struck Ford in the tactical vest, thicker and longer than the standard model. The vest captured the bullet and left a painful welt and bruise. Ford walked out of Boston Medical Center after treatment, waving to waiting photographers.

"It's like getting hit in the chest with a Pedro Martinez fastball," said Boston Police Lieutenant Robert O'Toole, commander of the tactical team.

Ford won praise from Acting Boston Police Commissioner James Hussey, who said, "His importance to the success of the entry, to giving cover to the other officers, is critical."

Kathleen O'Toole, named Sunday to become commissioner later this month, visited Ford in the hospital. She called Ford "an extraordinarily brave and capable guy."

Nolan's mother is a registered nurse who has been involved in philanthropic efforts. His father is Dr. James A. Nolan, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, listed in state records as practicing in Cambridge. Nolan's parents live in Newton and declined to comment at his arraignment.

Less than a month ago, on Jan. 16, Boston police Officer Scott W. O'Brien was wounded in Quincy when officers from the Boston Youth Violence Task Force and Quincy police tried to serve a warrant.

Relatives said that Horacio Mays, 27, was not home, but officers decided to check the attic. O'Brien climbed a ladder into the attic but his equipment belt caught on something as he pulled himself into the space. As officers worked to free O'Brien, Mays allegedly shot him, striking him in each arm and the chin.

After a four-hour standoff, Mays was captured peacefully. O'Brien has been released from the hospital after multiple surgeries.

"It's not like the movies where, once you get shot at, you light the whole place up," said Robert O'Toole. "They didn't go crazy. They took the suspect into custody. And that's the ending you want."

Globe correspondent Jack Encarnacao contributed to this report.