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SEARCHThe suspect reportedly shot at the officer and struck him. Investigators stated the officer fired back and then took cover behind the patrol vehicle. The suspect, who had also been shot, ran from the scene of the crash.
A Big Spring, Texas, police officer was airlifted to a Lubbock hospital with serious injuries after a shooting early Tuesday morning. He is reportedly stable.
Officials stated the officer was injured during a call to a saloon. Just before 2 a.m., Howard County Sheriff’s Department deputies and Big Spring Police Department officers responded to reports of a person with a gun in the area, KCBD reports.
Authorities arrived and found a dark blue car that matched the suspect’s vehicle description. Officers attempted to pull the vehicle over, but the car drove away, resulting in a pursuit.
Police said the car then crashed into a fence. A Big Spring officer ordered the driver, later identified as 42-year-old Orlando Montanez, to exit the vehicle.
Montanez reportedly shot at the officer and struck him. Investigators stated the officer fired back and then took cover behind the patrol vehicle. Montanez, who had also been shot, ran from the scene of the crash.
Montanez has been taken to a nearby hospital to treat his gunshot wounds, but will be taken back to Big Spring to be jailed. He has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer causing serious bodily injury.