PORTSMOUTH, Va. - An officer with the Portsmouth Police Department was hurt after being dragged during a traffic stop in the area of Elm Avenue Wednesday evening.
Just before 6 p.m., an officer conducted a traffic stop on a white Jeep that was stolen out of Norfolk. When the officer attempted to take the suspect into custody, police said, he drove away with the officer partially inside the vehicle.
They later crashed near the 2000 block of Elm Avenue, knocking down a fence, a cable dish and damaging the front yard.
After the incident, the driver fled westbound on Lincoln Street from Elm Avenue. The officer involved in this incident sustained a minor injury and will recover.
News 3 obtained audio where an officer is heard telling emergency dispatchers, "I need a medic to come look at my leg, please."
One neighbor described what she saw and heard.
"They jumped out the car. I heard this loud commotion and I saw an officer kneeling. Next thing I know, I saw an officer inside the ambulance."
On Thursday, the Portsmouth Police Department confirmed that the vehicle involved was a white Jeep, consistent with what neighbors told News 3. Norfolk Police also confirm that the vehicle, a 2015 white Jeep Cherokee, was reported stolen by the owner on June 1 at 7:18 a.m.
After the incident, neighbor Dennis Jones said he saw, "[Police] search the car with the K9 dog, got the K9 dog and walked back through the yard right there, through the yard there, then down the street."
Police are asking that anyone who has a doorbell camera, surveillance footage or photos of the area to submit their footage here as they investigate.
"Somebody's doorbell camera got it, and I hope they did get it because they could have killed many children right there," said one neighbor who didn't want to be identified. "It could have been a tragedy. It could have been something that you didn't want to see."
If you have any information about this incident, you are asked to call the Portsmouth Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit at (757) 393-8536 or to submit a tip through the Portsmouth Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP (1-888-562-5887). Tips may also be submitted anonymously via the P3Tips app.
