Fort Worth officer shoots, injures man suspected of car theft after chase, police say
A Fort Worth police officer shot a man who was suspected of stealing a car after the man crashed the Range Rover during a chase late Tuesday night, police said in a news release Wednesday.
The man, whose name was not released, was in stable condition at a hospital Wednesday night, police said.
Northwest Division officers responded shortly after 11 p.m. to a vehicle burglary call at an automotive repair shop near the 2700 block of White Settlement Road, according to the release.
Officers were told that a man had driven away from the business in a black Range Rover that had been left there for service/repair. The officers radioed a description of the stolen vehicle and the suspect.
Nearby officers saw a vehicle that matched the description of the broadcast and tried to conduct a traffic stop, police said. They said a pursuit ensued when the driver failed to yield to the police units.
During the chase, police said, they successfully deployed spike strips, flattening tires on the SUV. The driver tried to make a U-turn from eastbound to westbound at the intersection of NW 28th Street and Chestnut Avenue, according to the release.
The driver lost control of the vehicle and drove into a low retaining wall on the northwest corner of the intersection, police said. The driver then tried to back away from the retaining wall, they said..
An officer in a marked police unit pulled in behind the SUV, and police began “giving loud commands ordering the suspect out of the vehicle,” the release said. “There was no response to these commands. Officers began to break out the back window to get a better view into the stolen vehicle and the suspect.”
An officer who was covering the driver’s side door fired one round, shooting the man, police said. The release does not say why the officer fired.
Officers removed the man from the vehicle and began providing medical aid, police said. The man was taken to a local hospital.
No one else was injured.
The investigation is ongoing by Major Case detectives and the information released Wednesday is preliminary, police said.
