NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- A man was shot and critically wounded by police in Newark on Monday night after he hopped into a reportedly stolen SUV and accelerated into a cop car and then an elementary school, according to witnesses and prosecutors.
The man, who has not been identified, was transported to University Hospital in Newark in critical but stable condition, according to the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, which is investigating the police-involved shooting, as is standard protocol. Earlier reports indicated the man had died, which is apparently not the case.
Two officers involved were also taken to University Hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries and released.
The shooting unfolded shortly after 8:30 p.m. Monday as two uniformed police officers patrolling the South Ward in a marked police car noticed an SUV that had been reported stolen, the A.G. said. The vehicle in question is believed to be a Porsche.
The officers approached the SUV at Clinton Place and Hawthorne Avenue and saw a man in the passenger seat. When they went to detain him, a second man exited a nearby store and got behind the wheel, according to prosecutors.
The officers tried to detain the driver, sparking a struggle, during which he accelerated the SUV backward and then forward, the A.G. said.
That's when one of the officers fired his service weapon, striking the driver one time, prosecutors said. The SUV struck the patrol car, which was positioned at an angle in front of the SUV, before accelerating across the street, mounting a sidewalk and crashing into Hawthorne Avenue Elementary School, according to a preliminary account from police at the scene. The vehicle then hit multiple parked cars along the street.
Officers provided medical aid to the driver before he was transported to the hospital, the A.G. said.
It's unclear exactly how the officers were injured. A community advocate, Donna Jackson, said she spoke to police and that at least one of the officers was hit as the SUV accelerated.
"One young man was taken out of the vehicle," Jackson told WABC-TV. "The other young man jumped into the driver's seat, pursued forward, hitting an officer and hitting a police car, where the officer opened fire."
Juvenile car theft rings have been plaguing Newark for quite some time.
"It's a situation that I think got out of control because we were chasing, everybody's adrenaline is high," Jackson said. "And we have to get those kids in the car to understand, 'just stop.'"