A police officer suffered serious injuries requiring surgery after a car full of teenagers accelerated and drove directly at authorities in what was an alleged deliberate attempt to hit them.
The incident occurred just after 1 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 15 in Billings, Montana, when police officers located a vehicle that had been evading them multiple times previously in the evening.
MORE: 6 police officers hospitalized after colliding with each other responding to callOfficers say that they were in the process of giving commands to the vehicle’s occupants while the car was stopped facing the police when all of a sudden the driver of the car accelerated and drove straight toward the officers.
“The vehicle struck a BPD officer causing serious but non-life threatening injury,” said Lieutenant Brandon Wooley from the Billings Police Department in a press release. The officer was transported to a local medical facility by ambulance for injuries requiring surgery. The officer, who will not be identified at this time, is 35-years-old and a six-year veteran of the BPD.”
MORE: NYPD cops shot in the Bronx in 2 separate 'assassination' incidents, 1 suspect in custodyThe vehicle fled the scene after the driver struck the officer but crashed nearby.
Six occupants then fled on foot and all of them were apprehended in the area shortly after they tried to make their escape.
MORE: 5 kids caught in stolen truck lead police on short chase, crash into 2 other carsFive of the car’s occupants were juvenile females from Billings between the ages of 13 and 16. The driver, a 14-year-old male, also from Billings, was arrested and remanded into youth services. He was charged with attempted deliberate homicide.
The teens' identities have not yet been released and the investigation into the incident is currently ongoing.