Cell phone saves Albany cop in shooting

A cellphone may have saved an Albany police officer's life early Tuesday morning during a hostage situation.

Officer Willie Hall, 27, was shot, but his cell phone deflected the bullet enough that he wasn't seriously injured, according to a report in the Albany Herald. Hall was shot at around 4 a.m. on Haley Street during a hostage standoff. He was taken to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, where he was discharged a few hours later, police told the newspaper.

Officers were responding to a burglary call at the Dougherty County home in south Georgia when shots were fired. The Albany police department SWAT team was called in. When the house was stormed, officers discovered that the suspects were gone.