Five Taunton police officers injured by suspect with knife

Five Taunton police officers were injured, at least two of whom were stabbed, and a man was in custody Tuesday night following a traffic stop and police pursuit, authorities said.

One of the officers who was stabbed was flown to a Bostonarea hospital for treatment of injuries not believed to be lifethreatening, Taunton Police Chief Edward Walsh said.

Police used a Taser to subdue the suspect, who is facing multiple felony charges, the department said in a statement.

The suspect was not immediately identified.

“The suspect hasn’t been formally charged,” Walsh said shortly after 10 p.m. at a news conference broadcast live by WHDH-TV.

Another police officer was also taken to a hospital for treatment of undisclosed injuries. Their condition was not known.

Walsh was injured in the torso during the alleged attack and taken to a hospital, police said.

The chief returned to the scene of the incident near Brittannia Street to address media shortly after 10 p.m.

The incident started hours earlier.

At about 6:45 p.m., Taunton Police officers had pulled a vehicle over for a moving violation in the area of 716 County St. That motorist was cooperative with police.

However, “. . . during the stop a second motorist — not affiliated with the stopped motorist — pulled alongside and began to shout at the officers,” police said in a statement posted to its website.

That driver, a man, “then sped away from the scene in a 2010 gray Honda Accord,” but police did not pursue him, the statement said.

A short time later, another officer spotted the Honda operating recklessly, the statement said.

That officer tried to stop the car, but the “driver fled from police, nearly striking an officer who was approaching his vehicle during the stop,” police aid.

The driver kept going and crashed the car into a house on Britannia Street. Officers pursued the suspect into the home, Walsh said.

The suspect, who police believe lives in the Britannia Street home, was arrested following a search in the area, Walsh and State Police said.

“When our men and women in uniform at the Taunton PD walk out their door every day for their shift, they never know what they’re going to face,” Taunton Mayor Shaunna O’Connell said. “When our police officers are injured and hurt that affects the whole entire department. It affects this whole entire community.”

Massachusetts State Police also responded to the scene, an agency spokesman said.

Troopers and a K9 unit assigned to the State Police barracks in Middleborough responded to Taunton to assist in the search for a suspect, said David Procopio, an agency spokesman.

The suspect was located around 7 p.m., and State Police cleared the scene at 8 p.m., he said.