Initial reports that an officer with the Rochester (NY) Police Department died because he crashed his personally owned vehicle into a ravine lacked an important detail: he had accidentally shot himself and was attempting to drive himself to the hospital.

According to the Democrat & Chronicle , Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter revealed at a press conference that Officer Manuel "Manny" Ortiz suffered the accidental gunshot wound on Saturday evening and called his wife to let her know he was driving to the hospital.

Soon thereafter, his vehicle left the roadway and plunged into a ravine. Passing citizens ran down the hill toward the wreck. There they discovered Ortiz gravely wounded.

Deputies arrived, applied tourniquets, and carried Ortiz to the road above where EMS was waiting.

He was declared dead at the scene.