Bullet-proof vest saves Bucks cop's life, hunt on for gunman

A Chalfont police officer's bullet-proof vest saved his life today when he was shot in the chest while investigating a suspicious vehicle in a swim club parking lot, officials said.

Officer Jon Cousin, 31, was treated at Abington Memorial Hospital and released, said Police Chief Frank L. Campbell.

Campbell said the officer saw a car in the darkened parking lot of the Lenape Valley Swim Club on the 100 block of Westview Avenue about 3:15 a.m. and pulled in with his patrol car to investigate.

After Cousin got out of his car, a man shot him in the chest and the car sped away, the chief said.

Immediately after the shooting, police set up roadblocks in an effort to find the car, an older model maroon Oldsmobile Cutlass with two white men and a white woman inside.

The car being sought also had a scuffed rear bumper and a university-type decal in the rear window, police said. The wounded officer did not see a license plate.

Police were looking to see if anyone had surveillance video in the area, Campbell said.

He said Cousin has been on the Chalfont force for more than three years.