Chicago-Area Officer and Driver Shot at Traffic Stop

An Oak Park, IL, police officer was wounded in a shootout after stopping to help a Forest Park officer conducting a traffic stop Thursday morning.

Preliminary information showed the driver of the vehicle exited and began firing, Oak Park spokesman David Powers told the Sun-Times in an e-mail. The Oak Park officer then shot the driver, he said.

A witness told ABC7 that the driver got out of the car with his hands in the air and “just went in his waist... he got a gun and just started dumping. Shot the police window out, shot the police and everything.”

The wounded officer was able to walk to an ambulance with an apparent gunshot wound to the arm, the witness told ABC7.