A Tacoma, Washington, police officer was seen driving through downtown on Saturday night, driving at least one person and sending her to the hospital.
The officer responded to several calls that a group of people were blocking an intersection downtown when the crowd began to descend on the police car, the Tacoma police station said. Interim police chief Mike Ake said he was “committed” to the full co-operation of the department in investigating the incident.
“I am concerned that our department is experiencing a different use of lethal violence,” Ake said.
Several videos of bystanders were posted online of the incident, where the police car can be seen rolling over a person and moving on. Pierce County authorities are taking over the investigation into the incident as an independent investigation team.
A crowd of about 100 people and several cars blocked an intersection at Pacific Avenue when the department arrived downtown, according to a police statement. One Tacoma police car was then surrounded by the crowd and the officer inside struggled to remove himself.
“People hit the body of the police vehicle and its windows when the officer was stopped in the street,” Tacoma police said. “The officer, for fear of his safety, tried to back up, but could not succeed due to the crowd.”
The officer then moves the car forward, with lights and sirens, and hits at least one person. The condition of the individual taken to a local hospital is unknown.
Police said the officer stopped after moving some distance away and called for medical help. The officer was not identified by police.
Social media users called the event a “car show,” and some accounts posted videos of people in cars doing donuts at the intersection, while some filmed in the crowd on their phones. On the videos that the car stunts looked like at the same intersection, similar tire marks were shown in the road as in the videos of the Tacoma police vehicle.
Police did not identify the crowd that blocked the Tacoma intersection.
