A Millersville, TN, police officer has been treated and released at an area hospital after being struck by a suspect’s car during a traffic stop today. However, police say a fellow officer’s quick actions saved him for more severe harm.
Around 2:20 a.m. this morning, Officer Wendell Harris initiated a traffic stop on a speeder. The Millersville Police Department reports the officer detected a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle and an additional officer and a segreant arrived to provide backup.
Police say the suspect refused to get out of the vehicle and rolled his window up. Officers attempted to open the car door, but the suspect put his car in drive, yelled profanities at the officers, and turned the wheels toward where officers were standing.
Officer Trey Burroughs saw that Harris was about to be struck directly by the car and grabbed him by the back of his ballistic vest and pulled him away, but Harris still took a blow to his knee from the fleeing car.
“If not for the quick action taken by Officer Burroughs, it is very likely that Officer Harris would have been severely injured,” states a press release from the police department.
A pursuit ensued and the suspect drove figure eights around gas pumps at nearby stores, nearly hitting patrol units, then fled in excess of 100 mph before he exited the vehicle and ran into a wooded area. Police say the driver, a person they have identified, will be charged with aggravated assault on a first responder, felony evading, speeding, and reckless endangerment when he is arrested.
They discontinued their search for him once they were confident he was no longer in the area.
