Jeremy Hazell feels lucky to be alive after gun-shot wound
The more details that emerge from Jeremy Hazell's run-in with four thieves late Christmas night, the more terrifying the story becomes.
The high-scoring Seton Hall guard told the New York Daily News on Monday that he was walking home from a friend's Christmas party in Harlem when the robbers approached him outside the front door of his building.
"One of them had a hand in his pocket and told me to sit down on this bench. I didn't want to, and he said if I didn't he was going to shoot me."
Hazell said he pushed the robber in the chest - and made a real-life fast break.
He said he heard the thug squeeze off four shots as he bolted toward E. 105th St.
One of the slugs penetrated his side, just below his armpit, and then exited his body.
Hazell said that when he got to the corner of E. 105th St. and Park Ave., he flagged down a passing FDNY ambulance.
Thankfully the bullet merely grazed Hazell, so he's already out of the hospital and expected to make a full recovery.
Not complying with a gun-toting mugger might have increased Hazell's chances of getting hurt, but nobody can ever question his bravery in the face of danger. How many of the rest of us would have forked over our wallets, cell phone and keys, cowered on the bench and prayed not to get shot in a similar scenario?
Between a previous wrist injury and this bullet wound, the 24-year-old Hazell will likely redshirt this season and decide whether to turn pro or return for a fifth year in 2011.
It's a shame that struggling Seton Hall loses its leading scorer, but the important thing is that Hazell will be able to play again one day.
