Updated Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A 21-year-old is charged with attempted murder after he ran over an officer with his car in Plymouth Township on Friday and slammed head-on into a police vehicle.
Around noon, a Whitpain Township police sergeant attempted to stop the driver of a white Mercedes G-Wagon, but the driver sped away erratically and crossed over the concrete median along Skippack Pike.
About a half hour later, a Plymouth Township police officer found 21-year-old Dalton Lee Janiczek’s Mercedes G-Wagon in the parking lot of the Doubletree Hotel across from the Plymouth Meeting Mall.
Montgomery County Deputy Chief of Detectives Tom Nolan said that’s when Janiczek backed his car into the officer’s several times. The officer got out, told him to stop, and Janiczek drove directly at him.
“The officer does discharge his firearm at the vehicle, and the officer is struck at that point,” Nolan said. Janiczek struck the officer again with his car, causing the officer to fall to the ground.
As the officer was trying to apply a tourniquet to himself, Janiczek drove away, then circled back and struck the officer three more times.
Janiczek then sped off and slammed head-on into a police vehicle, injuring another officer. He was taken into custody and treated at a hospital for a head wound.
The officer who was over several times underwent emergency surgery and is in stable condition. The other officer is also OK.
Janiczek is facing multiple charges, including attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.