A Fulton County police officer and a shoplifting suspect were injured late Tuesday in a head-on collision that investigators believe was intentional.
Channel 2 Action News reported that the officer went to a Walmart on Old National Highway late Tuesday night to arrest a suspected shoplifter.
The officer placed the suspect in the back seat of the patrol car and was pulling out of the parking lot when the driver of a stolen Lincoln Town Car slammed head-on into the officer’s car.
Fulton police Det. Melissa Parker told Channel 2 that investigators believe the driver of the stolen car, which was unrelated to the shoplifting incident, “thought that he had been spotted or seen. We do know that he accelerated, striking the patrol car head-on.”
The impact heavily damaged the front of the police cruiser. The Lincoln, which had been stolen Tuesday morning, then hit a tree, and the driver got out and fled on foot. He was still at large early Wednesday.
The officer and shoplifting suspect were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. Their conditions were not available early Wednesday.
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