Officer, Accountant Hurt in Standoff

An accountant suspected of robbing two banks allegedly wounded a police detective in a gun battle and held him hostage Tuesday, with both men lying bleeding for two hours until the accountant was allowed to speak to a reporter, police said.

Det. Joseph Airhart, 45, and Daniel Salley, 41, were both listed in critical condition. Airhart was undergoing surgery for a gunshot wound to the head, police said.

The tax accountant said he turned to bank robbery because the Internal Revenue Service had caused problems for him and his working-class clients, police said.

A woman and two young children who were in the apartment where the officer was shot were not injured. Authorities said the accountant was visiting them and they were present during the standoff.

After Chicago police detectives and FBI agents showed up at a South Side loft apartment to arrest Salley, neighbors reported hearing exchanges of words and gunfire.

Police said Salley dragged Airhart inside the apartment and negotiators tried for two hours to win the detective’s freedom as both men lay bleeding.

Salley finally relented after being allowed to speak to a television reporter, according to police. In an off-the-air telephone conversation, he described problems with the IRS and struggles to support his family, and complained about the Bush administration.

Salley’s mother told reporters he has six children.

Reporter Paul Meincke said Salley told him he had “engaged in activities” because he could not support his family. Asked whether those activities included bank robbery, Salley replied: “I don’t look at it that way.”

In the warrant seeking his arrest on charges of robbing a South Side bank Friday, federal agents said Salley scooped up a duffel bag filled with more than $239,000.

He then sped off in a sport-utility vehicle he is believed to have stolen from an auto dealership during a test drive, authorities said.