After an extended car chase, police finally cornered a black Acura TL in a Whalley Avenue gas station on Saturday. Suddenly, the driver accelerated and rammed into an officer, police said. From the hood of the moving sedan, the cop fired a shot through the windshield that struck the driver and stopped the car.
The bullet hit the driver in the upper chest. Two cops were sent to the hospital for treatment. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
Here’s what happened, according to police spokesman Officer Joe Avery:
The chain of events was set off at 7:18 on Saturday evening when police tried to stop the black Acura TL sedan for a motor vehicle violation on Spring Street near Howard Avenue. The driver tried to speed away. Police initially followed, but broke off the chase when it got too dangerous. A short time later, another cop spotted the Acura locked in traffic on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard. The officer tried to block the car with his cruiser, but the driver rammed into the cop car and drove off. Police again pursued.
While continuing to elude officers, the Acura was involved in a hit-and-run accident on Sherman Avenue at George Street. The Acura hit another near the corner of Sherman and Whalley Avenues before driving into the parking lot of a Mobil station.
When two police officers approached the car on foot, the Acura accelerated. One officer was struck and thrown onto the hood of the moving car. He fired a single round through the car’s windshield, hitting the driver in the upper chest. The car hit yet another vehicle before finally coming to a stop.
The driver was taken to the hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Two officers were also treated for injuries. Police did not release the names of the driver or the officers on Sunday.
glad both officers are OK! Thanks for risking life & limb to make the city safer.
I wonder what the driver was hiding? To flee the scene because of a moving vehicle violation, he must have something else?