Video posted on social media shows the police car hitting several people and running over at least one person.
“He had tire marks all over his body,” witness Cory Le told KTBS-TV. “Belly out. His shoes were off. Honestly, it was like something out of a movie.”
Tacoma police spokesperson Wendy Haddow told the newspaper that police were notified shortly after 6 p.m. of the street racers.
Haddow said a responding officer used his car’s bullhorn to address the crowd. The crowd then began pounding on his windows, she said.
“The officer, fearing for his safety, tried to back up, but was unable to do so because of the crowd,” Tacoma Police said in a statement. That prompted him to speed out of the scene for his own safety, police said.
At least two people were injured when a police officer responding to a report of a street race plowed his car through a crowd of pedestrians that had gathered around him and were pounding on the car's windows in downtown Tacoma on Saturday night.
2 injured after police car drives through crowd at race cadillacnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cadillacnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
As police began clearing an intersection after responding to a group that was “driving in a reckless manner,” some people began surrounding an officer’s vehicle and hitting the vehicle’s body and windows, according to a statement from the Tacoma Police Department.
At least one person hospitalized after Washington state police officer drives into crowd lmtonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lmtonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.