Man charged with fleeing, striking Chicago cop during traffic stop

A man has been charged with striking a police officer and a pedestrian when he took off from a traffic stop Tuesday evening in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side.

Alula Berhe, 23, faces one felony count of aggravated fleeing and one misdemeanor count each of resisting or obstructing a police officer and possession of between 30 and 100 grams of cannabis, according to Chicago Police.

Just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, officers responded to a call of a person with a gun in the 100 block of East 75th Street, police said.

When an officer attempted the traffic stop on the vehicle, the driver took off and struck the officer, police said. The officer was taken to a hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

The vehicle drove east and a male got out in the 7600 block of South St. Lawrence with a handgun, police said. The vehicle kept going and struck a pedestrian in the 6700 block of South King Drive.

The pedestrian suffered minor injuries and was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition, police said.

Berhe, of the Uptown neighborhood, was also issued three citations for failure to stop at a stop sign and one citation for disobeying a red light, police said.

He was ordered held on a $75,000 bond Wednesday, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office. He is next scheduled to appear in court June 2.