NEW YORK, NY (TIP): Officer James Li, of the 71st Precinct, was wounded in the left leg at the corner of Utica Ave. and Empire Blvd. in Crown Heights after trying to stop a bus fare beater, sources said. The gunman fired three times in the 5 p.m. confrontation in East Flatbush, hitting Officer James Li twice, once in each leg.

Li and his rookie partner, Officer Randy Chow, returned fire but the suspect fled uninjured. As two women tended to Li, who lay bleeding in a White Castle parking lot at Utica Ave. and Empire Blvd., officers gave chase, west on Empire and Lefferts Ave., then south on Schnectady Ave., where the suspect ran down an alley and into a building.

Police arrested him there, and his gun was recovered, police sources said.Li was rushed to Kings County Hospital, where he was visited by Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and Mayor de Blasio. Li, the first NYPD cop shot in the line of duty since July 4th, is expected to recover, sources said.