Officer Shoots Man Who Tried Running Him Over: Police

A police officer shot and critically injured a man who hit him with his car Sunday night in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side, authorities said.

Authorities said they were searching for the man after he allegedly abducted his 2-year-old child from southwest suburban Bridgeview.

After being informed of an Amber alert for the baby, police officers working on their day off spotted the man and the child at a Church’s Chicken restaurant near West Roosevelt Road and South Independence Boulevard about 7 p.m., police said. The man was allegedly trying to buy drugs in the area, said Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 spokesman Pat Camden.

Officers confronted the man in the parking lot of the restaurant, authorities said, and the man and the child got into a burgundy sedan.

The man then hit an officer, who was flung on top of the hood of the car, Camden said. The officer, fearing for his life, fired shots at the car, which eventually stopped, Camden said.

The man was shot in the head and taken in critical condition to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, authorities said.

The officer suffered a broken leg with multiple fractures, Camden said. Paramedics took the man in stable-to-serious condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, authorities said.

The baby, who was found in the back seat of the car, was taken in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, authorities said.

Investigators with the Independent Police Review Authority, which probes police-involved shootings, were at the scene collecting details, said agency spokesman Larry Merritt.

The shooting caused the Chicago Transit Authority to temporarily reroute the No. 12 Roosevelt bus, according to an alert from the transit agency.