Chicago Police officer pinned by car, suspect shot in Austin

A person was shot by Chicago Police after an officer was pinned by a vehicle Wednesday morning in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side.

The incident happened at 11:15 a.m. in the 1600 block of North Leclaire Avenue.

Deputy Chief Al Nagode told reporters that officers were responding to reports of a stolen vehicle driven by “an individual that’s known to them.”

The suspect drove down the alley on Leclaire and hit another vehicle driven by a resident.

“The officers, along with another unit, come, get out of the vehicle to approach the individual, giving him verbal commands,” Nagode said. “The individual refuses to listen again, and is using the car to kind of ram the two vehicles in an attempt to escape.”

An officer was then pinned between the resident’s vehicle and his own squad car, Nagode said.

The pinned officer continued to tell the suspect to stop and get out, but he ignored him.

“The officer fires a shot,” Nagode said. “The subject, again, is . . . trying to ram the vehicles to get out. The officer, again, fires again. The subject was subsequently taken into custody without further incident.”

The officer suffered “severe damage to his right leg,” Nagode added.

Another officer was struck by a vehicle but was expected to be treated and released Wednesday.

The suspect was shot multiple times and hospitalized in serious but “stable” condition, police said.

If was not known if, aside from the stolen vehicle, if the suspect was armed, Nagode said.

Last week, as the Chicago Police Department announced a new use-of-force policy to focus of de-escalation and the sanctity of life, Supt. Eddie Johnson touched on the possibility of an officer being injured by a vehicle.

“If a vehicle is coming at an officer and that’s the only threat of force, the officer can get out of the way of it,” Johnson said. “If someone is firing a handgun out of a vehicle, then the officer is authorized to use deadly force.”

Police cordoned off a block around the alley as investigators worked the scene.

Alana Hall, a mother of seven who has lived in the neighborhood for 10 years, was home in her garden apartment a half block from the shooting when she heard the gunfire.

She came outside and saw an officer with a bloody leg being loaded into an ambulance. Hall said she knows the more seriously injured officer and referred to him as “my buddy.”

As she spoke with reporters, a school bus dropped off several of her children. She said it was the fourth time in recent years her children have come home to a crime scene outside.

An officer assigned to guard the crime scene tape welcomed the children home, asking them “What’d you guys learn in school today?”

After the children went inside, she said “it’s nerve-wracking” for her kids to come home to crime scenes.

A woman in a passing vehicle who was trying to get home asked reporters what happened. When told that an officer shot someone after he was hit by a car she said “Oh no, we need our cops.”