Deputy struck by fleeing driver fires weapon

FORT LAUDERDALE — A Broward Sheriff’s deputy fired a weapon Wednesday afternoon when a man resisted arrest and struck the deputy with his car, the sheriff’s office said.

The incident began just before 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the Dolphin Harbor InnMotel, 4245 N. Ocean Drive in Lauderdale

A deputy from the sheriff’s crime suppression team tried to arrest a driver wanted on charges of aggravated fleeing and eluding authorities, spokeswoman Veda ColemanWright said.

Instead of following the deputy’s command to get out of his car, he backed his car into the deputy and the deputy’s car. When the driver backed his car into the deputy, the deputy fired his gun, hitting the driver in his upper arm, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel said.

“The subject chose a path of resistance and backed his vehicle not only into the deputy’s vehicle, but struck our deputy,” Israel saidWednesday.

The driver fled the motel parking lot, leading other deputies in a chase that ended about1.5 mileswest in the parking lot ofHoly CrossHospital in Fort Lauderdale. The driver lost control of his white Ford Focus and crashed into two parked cars there, Israel said.

The injured man was taken to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale; the deputy was taken to Broward Health Imperial Point, also in Fort Lauderdale. Their injuries are not life-threatening.

This is the third time this month the Broward Sheriff’s Office has reported that a deputy fired a gun while on duty. In those incidents, one man was killed, a 17-year-old boy was wounded and a deputy was injured.

“We live in a violent world and these things are happening all over America,” Israel said. “Each shooting, each use of force, needs to be looked at and investigated on its own merit. We can’t say something that