A man who allegedly “violently” assaulted an officer inside a runaway police vehicle was shot and killed on Thursday afternoon in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Around 4 p.m. on Thursday, a police officer spotted a U-Haul truck that was reported stolen out of Richmond, Virginia. The officer approached the man standing outside the U-Haul truck at a gas station.
The driver shoved the officer into his own police vehicle, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
“The assailant in this matter shoved our police officer into the open, front driver’s door of his marked police car and was attacking him, was on top of him, and was violently assaulting our uniformed Fairfax County Police officer,” Fairfax County Police Department Chief Kevin Davis said during a press conference on Thursday night.
The police officer was able to contact the police dispatcher to request help after the man reportedly took the officer’s gun.
“All the while, our police officer is on his radio, making several radio transmissions that he’s being attacked. He also relays during his radio transmissions several times that our assailant has his gun, has his gun,” Davis said, according to WTOP. “He was fighting for his life, literally.”
Video taken by a witness shows the police SUV put in reverse and speeding backward out of the gas station before crashing into a parked car at a McDonald’s parking lot. The two men inside the police car are seen struggling. Numerous gunshots can be heard.
Responding officers approach the crashed police SUV with guns drawn. A responding officer, a 24-year veteran, pulls the man out of the vehicle and opens fire on the suspect. Davis described the responding officer as a “hero.”
Two responding officers discharged their firearms, according to the police.
The suspect was pronounced dead at the crime scene.
(WARNING: Graphic video)
The officer who was reportedly attacked suffered minor injuries, including scrapes, bruises, and a bloodied eye.
Davis said that the “victim police officer” did not discharge his service firearm.
Davis said there is bodycam video of the alleged violent attack inside, but the footage has yet to be released. The chief said the bodycam video shows the alleged attacked officer “face down” with the suspect “on top of our police officer.”
Davis said the incident was “quite a dramatic scene” and “highly unusual,” adding, “I’ve never quite seen something like this.”
The suspect accused of assaulting the officer has not yet been identified.
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