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Police officer hurt in struggle with armed suspect during traffic stop
A dangerous situation that all started routine. Gratiot at Evergreen just after 8 p.m. Tuesday. Police pulled over a vehicle for tinted windows. The driver was questioned and had an active warrant, and his car was impounded.
EASTPOINTE, Mich. (FOX 2) - What should have been a routine traffic stop evolved into an all-out brawl with an armed suspect, slimming from a tinted window. An Eastpointe police officer was in the hospital Wednesday night and a suspect is in custody with a gun recovered from his pocket.
What they're saying:
It was a struggle caught on camera between an officer and a suspect they say is armed, leaving an officer injured.
"If he would’ve gotten a hold of that handgun and shot, he could’ve killed one of the officers or somebody else," said Eastpointe Police Chief Corey Haines.
It was a dangerous situation that all started routine at Gratiot at Evergreen just after 8 p.m. Tuesday. Police pulled over a vehicle with tinted windows.
The driver was questioned and had an active warrant, and his car was impounded.
The man seen on bodycam was the passenger who police say gave a fake name.
"The passenger kept acting very strange, and he kept reaching into his pocket and he had his hand in his pants pocket holding, almost as if he was holding up his pants," Haines said.
Officials say the man had a gun in his pocket. When police moved to arrest him, the suspect caught the officers with a headbutt and a fight ensued.
"In that fight, they did everything they could do to keep him from getting a hold of that handgun or using that handgun, so thank God they were successful," said Haines.
What's next:
The suspect is awaiting potential charges, and Haines says the suspect does have a history of assaulting police.
The officer was taken to the hospital.