An attempted Queens traffic stop on Wednesday night came to a chaotic end with a police officer firing a shot at the fleeing driver who had struck his partner, police reported.
No injuries were reported as a result of the fired shot, authorities said.
Police said the trouble began at about 11:30 p.m. on March 9 at the corner of Tuskegee Airmen Way and Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica.
According to law enforcement sources, two officers from the 103rd Precinct stopped a white Subaru SUV with New York plates, driven by an unidentified man, suspecting that the vehicle had been stolen. A further investigation confirmed the officers’ suspicion, sources familiar with the case said.
When one of the officers got out and approached the vehicle, police said, the SUV driver suddenly hit the accelerator and struck the officer, sending the cop onto the hood before he was knocked back to the pavement.
That’s when the officer’s partner fired one shot at the SUV, but missed. The vehicle was last seen fleeing westbound along South Road, police reported.
The officer struck by the SUV suffered minor injuries and was treated at Jamaica Hospital, sources said. The officer who fired the shot was also evaluated at Jamaica Hospital.
It’s the second time this week that an officer opened fire on a moving vehicle at a traffic stop. On Sunday night in the Bronx, a cop shot and critically injured an 18-year-old driver who attempted to back his vehicle into officers.
Following Sunday’s incident, NYPD Chief of Department Michael Corey pointed out that NYPD policy prohibits officers from firing “at a moving vehicle unless something other than the vehicle is being used as a weapon,” though each instance is reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
The investigations into both cases remain ongoing.
