Officer Hit, Injured By Driver During Safety Checkpoint Operation
UPDATED 06/13/11 11:12 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Chicago Police officer is hospitalized, after being hit and injured by a driver at a traffic checkpoint on the city's Near North Side.
As CBS 2's Susanna Song reports, the driver was in custody Monday morning after leading police on a five-mile chase.
Around 2:15 a.m. Monday, Near North District officers had set up a checkpoint at Sheffield Avenue and Kingsbury Street, just east of the North Branch Channel and Goose Island. They were looking for infractions such as drunken driving and seat belt violations.
Officers guided a 2006 Jaguar to the staging area near an Old Navy and Whole Foods store, but the driver never stopped. Instead, he made a U-turn, hit the officer and took off.
Police fired shots at the car because the injured officer was being dragged at one point.
Officers chased the car down the Kennedy and Dan Ryan expressways and finally caught up with the driver at 30th Street and Princeton Avenue several miles away.
The suspect ditched the car and allegedly took off running, but officers eventually caught up to the man and arrested him.
The safety of the officers involved was not all that was at stake, said Chicago Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden, formerly the deputy director of police News Affairs.
"It's not only the officer's safety. It's the safety of the community. They chased this guy to 31st and Princeton. He was trying to get away from the police. Something happening at 2 o'clock in the morning -- that affects everybody. It's not just the police officers. It also entails the community.
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The officer was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was recovering as of 5 a.m. He suffered both an arm and a leg injury, Camden said.
The suspect who fled in the vehicle was injured, according to Camden.
Police did not disclose whether the suspect was shot or if his injuries resulted from broken glass or something else.
As of 5 a.m., police were wrapping up their investigation and taking down the crime scene tape.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
