New York Breaking News

YONKERS (CBS) ― A man accidentally shot a woman in the stomach with a 30-inch arrow when he fired it at a fence and it went through to the property next door, police said Thursday.

Eric Collins, 27, was arrested Thursday on charges of assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon in the baffling incident last week in the tranquil Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale, said Paul Browne, the New York Police Department's deputy commissioner for public information.

Collins wasn't aiming at anyone, and Sunday's shooting was believed to be accidental, Browne said.

The Yonkers man and his wife were moving into his grandparent's home on Independence Avenue when police say he was taking a break from unpacking and fired the arrow at a fence. It ricocheted up, hitting Denise Delgado-Brown - a traffic court officer in Yonkers - as she dropped off fellow parishioners at a nursing home after church.

The 50-year-old Yonkers woman spent four days at Saint Barnabas Hospital.

In an exclusive interview with CBS 2's Pablo Guzman as she was being released, Delgado-Brown says she realizes how lucky she was.

It's easy to understand why this church-going woman considers herself blessed.

"I don't think I really realized the ramifications of ... you could've been here at my funeral," Delgado-Brown said.

And when you ask her about who fired the arrow …

"That's a senior citizens building and a nursing home. How could you do that? You didn't think somebody was gonna get hurt?" Delgado-Brown said.

When she arrived home in Yonkers, neighbors who told CBS 2 HD, "That smile? she's like that all the time," those neighbors, like "John," were waiting:

It wasn't Denise crying. It was John. And it was Denise, the woman who was shot with the arrow, who wound up comforting her neighbor.

"Oh John, don't cry," Delgado-Brown said.

Over and over, that scene was repeated between Delgado-Brown and her neighbors. But before you think it's all hearts and violins, the woman has some sense of humor.

"Woman shot with an arrow: details at 11 … which is my favorite thing to say at work," she said.

In fact, she laughs at herself, because when her story first came on television, while she was in the hospital bed, she wondered what woman got shot with an arrow:

"And my friends said, 'that's you, fool!' I tell you, it didn't register," Delgado-Brown said.

She said she heard from people she had not seen since high school and got emotional.

"I didn't know how much people really cared about me," she said.

Welcome home, Denise.

She said she is going to go stir crazy. It will be four to six weeks before she can get back to work as a court officer in Yonkers.

Meanwhile, Collins, a plumber, was being held at the 50th Precinct stationhouse in the Bronx. No one immediately returned messages left at possible phone numbers for him in Riverdale and Yonkers, and police didn't know his lawyer's name.

Collins was questioned by investigators shortly after the incident, and denied having anything to do with it, police said.

Investigators canvassing the area around 4 p.m. Thursday came across Collins on the street while he was walking two or three dachshunds. He appeared nervous when they inquired about the incident, and he agreed to accompany officers to the station, Browne said.

Collins apparently realized his involvement after reading media reports about the curious shooting, police said.

Police said the carbon aluminum arrow, black with yellow feathers, was a type used for target practice and capable of traveling more than 300 yards.

CBS 2's Pablo Guzman and Magee Hickey contributed to this report.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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