Gary officers injured in crash

Man arrested after ramming into squad car waiting to join pursuit, police say

Two Gary police officers endured non-life-threatening injuries when a man rammed into a squad car in which they were sitting during a shots-fired call Wednesday evening.

Officers were called around 5:25 p.m. Wednesday to the 800 block of East 21st Avenue for a complaint of a man driving a black Chrysler 200 and firing his gun, Gary police spokesman Cmdr. Jack Hamady said in a news release Wednesday night.

Witnesses told officers the man is known in the neighborhood, he said.

Officers during the call located a vehicle matching the description heading south in the 2000 block of Georgia Street, Hamady said, so they tried a traffic stop.

The man didn’t stop, however, and as they followed him, they saw him toss a handgun out of the driver’s side heading south on Martin Luther King Drive, toward 35th Avenue, he said.

As officers joined the pursuit in Gary’s Glen Park section, a unit that had its emergency lights activated at a stop sign facing east on 35th and MLK waited for the Chrysler and other units to pass so it could then join the pursuit,

Hamady said.

But when the Chrysler approached the intersection, the driver turned toward the officers at the stop sign and crashed into them, he said.

Both cars were rendered undriveable from the crash, so the driver of the Chrysler got out and fled on foot but was caught and arrested, Hamady said.

The two officers were taken to Methodist Northlake for treatment, Hamady said; one officer, a two-year veteran, sustained injury to his left side and is in stable condition waiting for tests, while the second, a 25-year sergeant, sustained a head injury and large cut.

He was treated and released Wednesday night, Hamady said.

The suspect is a 41-year-old from Gary who’s now in custody at the Gary Police Department, Hamady said.

Indiana State Police is investigating the crash, according to Hamady.