Detroit Free Press
UPDATE: A 19-year-old has turned himself in, according to a report from WDIV-TV (Channel 4).
DETROIT — A Detroit Police Department officer is in critical condition after he was struck by an SUV that fled the scene early Saturday morning, a Detroit Police Department captain said.
Officers from the 8th precinct were responding to a call near West McNichols Road and Stahelin Avenue about 2:40 a.m. After the crowd was cleared out, the officer was returning to his scout car when he was hit from the rear by an SUV travelling at a high rate of speed, according to DPD Captain Darrell Patterson. The vehicle drove eastbound on McNichols without stopping.
“There were two marked police vehicles, lights going, and there was a gap between them,” DPD Chief James Craig said. “This vehicle went between those cars, eastbound, striking out officer.” Craig said investigators estimated the car’s speed to be “well over 60, 70 miles an hour.”
Officers attempted to perform first aid on the scene, then took the officer to Sinai Grace Hospital.
“This is a tragic accident,” Craig said. “The only thing I can tell you right now is he’s still very critical. They mayor and I had a conversation with his family. We are all asking for prayers of recovery, full recovery, for this young man.
“As the doctor described, when there’s a head trauma, an injury to the brain, it can go any kind of way. That’s why it’s important for us to keep praying and asking for a full recovery. It was a pretty significant accident.”
The officer is 30 years old and has been with the department for a year and a half. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan says the officer had been married for only a month.
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