Police cruiser rammed by SUV

A Springfield police cruiser was rammed twice by an SUV while officers were investigating it, a police report says.

The SUV also hit a parked car while trying to flee, police said.

Christopher Gilbreath, 18, was arrested and charged with four counts of felonious assault, failure to comply with an order of a police officer, vandalism, obstructing and resisting arrest. He was also cited with several traffic tickets.

The incident allegedly occurred as multiple Springfield police officers went to the area of Sherman Avenue and Farlow Street Tuesday night because someone identified the SUV as suspicious, the report says. An officer approached it and found no one in the driver seat. Other officers were inside a police cruiser parked behind the SUV.

The officer then saw a man jump into the driver seat from inside the car and put the SUV in reverse.

“As officers attempted to exit the cruiser, the male passenger put the suspicious SUV in reverse and backed toward their cruiser,” the report says. “Fearing for his safety, an officer had to jump back into the cruiser to avoid being hit.”

Police alleged the SUV struck the cruiser and damaged it.

The SUV then sped off, the report says. Police chased the SUV through multiple Springfield streets and eventually made it to East Southern Avenue, where the SUV allegedly again hit the cruiser, the report says.