A man was seriously hurt Friday evening when he was shot and tased by Chicago Police officers on the Northwest Side.
The shooting happened about 5:30 p.m. in the 2800 block of North Harding, according to Independent Police Review Authority spokesman Larry Merritt.
Officers responding to a call of a car blocking the alley found the 24-year-old man sitting in the vehicle smoking something, believed to be a narcotic, Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said.
The man was ignoring the person who called the police, and proceeded to also ignore the police officers, despite their repeated knocks on his vehicle’s windows, Camden said.
When an officer broke the car’s back window, in an attempt to get the man out, he put the car in gear and side-swiped both the civilian’s vehicle and the squad car before speeding off down the alley, Camden said.
A chase ensued and, by blocking the car in another alley in the 2800 block of North Pulaski, officers got the man to stop the vehicle again, Camden said.
With the man’s car boxed in the alley, officers attempted to once again approach the vehicle, but the man put the car in gear and drove toward an officer standing in front of the vehicle, Camden said.
The officer fired at the vehicle in self-defense, striking the man, Camden said.
“When you’re trying to run someone over, the car is a weapon,” Camden said.
After the driver was shot, police were able to get him out of the car, but he then starting fighting the officers, Camden said.
The officers tased the man several times before they were able to take him into custody, Camden said.
He was then taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in serious-to-critical condition, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Joe Roccasalva said.
No police officers were injured, Camden said.
Police could not immediately provide details on the incident.
