A federal agent was hit by a vehicle at a South Side gas station where the Drug Enforcement Administration was working Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
DEA agents and task force officers were working a narcotics investigation in the 8200 block of South Kedzie when Chicago police responded to a call of shots fired about 12:50 p.m., officers said.
The DEA confirmed its agents stopped a vehicle thought to be transporting cocaine and tried to arrest its driver when the car entered a gas station at 82nd and Kedzie. But the driver tried to pull out of the gas station, hitting the agent and two other vehicles.
The agent suffered a head injury and a broken leg and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to an emailed DEA statement.
The agency also acknowledged that shots were fired during the incident, and it said a suspect was being treated at another hospital. The vehicle involved was abandoned — and later recovered — and found to contain drugs, according to the DEA.
An employee at a nearby business said she heard screeching tires, a crash and “four to six gunshots.”
When she rushed to the front of the business to look out, she saw someone on the ground by one of the gas pumps, “holding their head.”
Then she saw the gray car that had been pulled over speed north on Kedzie. A squad car followed in pursuit. Another police SUV sped east, the woman said.