Mexico City, Apr 9 (IANS/EFE): A Mexico City police officer survived a shooting when his badge stopped a bullet fired at him by a robbery suspect, authorities said.

Juan Daniel Ruiz Coy was shot just after 11 p.m. Friday while on patrol during the Good Friday processions in Iztapalapa, the the Federal District's Public Safety Secretariat said.

The officer "was shot in the chest, but the bullet hit his badge, which saved his life", the secretariat said.

The 39-year-old officer was on duty in Tezonco, a district in the southeastern section of Mexico City, when a citizen told him he had just been robbed.

The officer spotted a group of suspects, who scattered when they saw him.

Ruiz Coy chased one of the men all the way to Ozuna street, where the suspect "turned toward the patrol car that was following him and fired at least seven times", with six rounds hitting the vehicle, the secretariat said.

"Policeman Ruiz Coy, who was wearing his bullet-proof vest, was hit by a bullet that entered on the side, around his left shoulder, tore off a shield and lodged in the clasp of the badge he was wearing on his chest, keeping the bullet from penetrating his heart or lungs," the secretariat said.

The suspect broke into a dwelling and managed to escape over the roofs of nearby buildings.

The officer was transported to Mocel Hospital, where doctors found that he had "a bullet impact in the chest but no penetration" because "the bullet was stopped by the officer's badge", the secretariat said.