A DeKalb County Police officer was injured overnight trying to stop thieves robbing a frozen chicken tractor trailer.

Crooks caught in the act tried to run over the officer, authorities said.

Police staked out a truck stop near International Park Drive after receiving complaints about break-ins of tractor trailers parked along the road, with everything from tires to microwave ovens being lifted, authorities told Channel 2 Action News.

That’s when officers saw a pair of would-be bandits trying to pry open the doors of a Tyson’s Chicken trailer, police Lt. Dane Cunningham told Channel 2.

“When they attempted to interrupt the theft in progress, one of the vehicles … the suspect vehicle struck one of our officers and our police units and basically right now the vehicle is at large,” Cunningham said.

The officer was taken to a nearby hospital with a bruised hip and is expected to be OK, police said.

Police told Channel 2 the crooks escaped in a dark colored van that should have some minor damage, and in a white pickup truck.

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Mathew Palmer, a former Delta Air Lines employee, at his home in Atlanta on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025.  Palmer was fired less than two weeks after writing a post on social media about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. (Natrice Miller/AJC)