A decorated Denver Police officer might lose his leg after it was run over by a Denver Fire Department truck as he was trying to keep fans who had breached the gates during the parade Thursday away from the truck.

It was one of two incidents that slightly marred an extremely well-attended Denver Nuggets NBA championship parade through downtown Thursday and a rally at Civic Center Park.

Mayor Michael Hancock estimated more than 750,000 to 1 million people descended on downtown.

The other incident was a shooting at 16th and Arapahoe streets long after the parade had passed, about 12:30 p.m. Thursday, according to police.

Chief Ron Thomas described the shooting as a “targeted incident” at a press conference attended by Hancock.

The suspect fired and hit two people, who were taken to Denver Health. A hospital official said they’re in serious condition.

“We believe this was completely unassociated to the parade and subsequent events,” Thomas said. “As the mayor alluded to, here we have individuals armed with weapons acting irresponsibly in our community.”

A shooting after the Nuggets’ Game 5 victory at 20th and Market streets about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday sent 10 people to the hospital in what Thomas described previously as possibly gang-and-illegal-drug related.

Hancock said there were an estimated 200 officers on the streets Monday night and again Thursday. 

There were two arrests at the parade, Thomas said, one for someone illegally in possession of a weapon and another after a disturbance where officers found a participant had a warrant for their arrest.

The fire truck incident occurred about 11:30 a.m. as fire truck #15 carrying Nuggets star players Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray rounded the corner of 13th and Cherokee streets. Fans had breached the barricades there and Denver Police Sgt. Justin Dodge, a member of the SWAT team, was trying to keep them away from the truck carrying several players.

“The fire truck began to roll up the back of his left leg, trapping him underneath the vehicle causing a very significant lower leg injury,” Thomas said. “We were able to extricate him from underneath the fire truck, load him up in an ambulance and rushed him to Denver Health.”

A doctor from Denver Health said Sgt. Dodge was immediately sent to surgery and is in stable condition.

“He was protecting those community members from the fire trucks,” Thomas said. “He’s a veteran officer, a sergeant assigned to our SWAT team for a number of years and a very decorated officer.”

Sgt. Dodge has served the Denver Police Department since 1997, a spokesperson said.

Hancock expressed disappointment in the shooting “marring” the parade and rally.

“I can tell you this (parade and rally) is something that the city of Denver does well,” he said. “It’s a huge undertaking, the magnitude of which many cities have never experienced.”

It’s the third such parade in Hancock’s 12-year term, the two others for the Denver Broncos and Colorado Avalanche championships.

“Here we are again having to talk about someone endangering the lives of people who came out to celebrate,” Hancock said. “I want to thank the million or so people who came out today and did the right thing and had a great time celebrating our Denver Nuggets in their championship. … Shame on them (the shooting suspects) for once again marring what had been an otherwise pretty successful event that was for the entire state of Colorado.”