Ohio Sergeant Struck by Vehicle, Shoots Auto Theft Suspect While on Hood

A Columbus police sergeant who was struck by a woman driver shot her from atop the hood Wednesday afternoon as an attempted traffic stop for a stolen car escalated into violence on the city's North Side.

The male sergeant who was struck by the vehicle was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, Downtown, in stable condition with potential broken bones. The woman driving the suspected stolen vehicle was taken in serious condition to OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital for treatment of her gunshot injuries.

Columbus police said in a news release that officers were dispatched shortly after 3:20 p.m. Wednesday after a caller told dispatchers they had seen someone driving their blue 2015 Toyota Camry, which was stolen from Lancaster, Ohio.

About 30 minutes later, officers radioed dispatch that they had located the car. Police said the woman drove into the parking lot of a shopping center and began driving erratically around the lot. Officers deployed spikes in an attempt to stop the car.

While in the parking lot, police allege that the woman suspect put the car in reverse, then drove forward abruptly and struck a police sergeant who was on foot in the lot.

Police said the woman continued driving through the parking lot with the sergeant on the hood. The sergeant then fired his gun "several times," according to police, striking the driver. But the woman continued driving, leaving the shopping center parking lot through a grassy area, where the sergeant fell off the vehicle, police said.

The female driver, meanwhile, fled eastbound toward Interstate 71, police said. As she approached the entrance ramp of I-71 north, she crashed head-on into two vehicles, police said.