WASHINGTON (WJLA) — A DC police officer was injured Friday after a fleeing driver took off with the officer in the back seat of a car.
According to DC Police Chief Robert Contee, officers pursued a man at approximately 4:54 p.m. in the 500 block of Kennedy Street NW who was reportedly chasing after someone with a gun. Once police engaged the man with the gun, he took off and police continued to engage.
"They went to look for the individual, they encountered the individual, they fought with the individual, they tried to successfully take this person into custody. Unfortunately, this individual did not want to go into custody," Contee said.
Police say the struggle took place after officers felt a gun in the man's waistband. Several officers engaged the man but he broke loose and took off for an alley.
"That person was able to break away from our officers, he fled to a nearby alley where there was a vehicle, he was able to enter into that vehicle and once inside of that vehicle, our officers chased him and engaged him a second time," Contee described. "A violent struggle ensued between officers and this individual as they tried to remove him from the vehicle and also retrieve the firearm that they felt on him at that time."
That's when, according to police, an officer entered the back seat of the vehicle in an attempt to subdue the man. The driver then got the car in gear and began driving down Kennedy Street for several blocks.
"The officer was in the rear seat of the vehicle pleading with the person to, 'please stop, please stop, please stop.' The person did not stop the vehicle."
Contee said that at some point in the drive down Kennedy Street, the officer fired a shot that struck the driver in the side. The officer then bailed out of the vehicle.
"The officer was actually, literally, kidnapped, if you will, in the backseat of the vehicle while this guy is driving down two or three blocks," Contee said.
Two officers are now in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, while the driver of the vehicle checked himself into the hospital with a gunshot wound after escaping. The driver is in critical condition.