A man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly driving into two Chicago police officers, dragging one of them, Friday in Englewood on the South Side.
Jermaine Little, 35, was pulled over by police for a traffic violation around 7:30 p.m. in the 6300 block of South Michigan Avenue, Chicago police
Officers were monitoring a ShotSpotter alert in the 600 block of 61st Place when they saw a black Chevy Impala coming from that area at a high speed, according to a bond proffer prepared by Cook County prosecutors.
The officers followed the Impala, which then merged lanes without a proper turn signal, prompting the officers to pull the car over, prosecutors said.
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Officers allegedly smelled cannabis coming from the vehicle, and one officer allegedly saw what appeared to be a cannabis cigarette in the vehicle near the console area, prosecutors said. Little, who was driving the car, allegedly admitted to smoking the cigarette.
One officer tried to open the driver’s side door but it was locked, and another officer reached through the cracked window to unlock it, prosecutors said. Little allegedly closed the passenger’s side window and then tried to close the driver’s side window, ignoring officer’s commands.
The officers were able to open the driver and passenger doors, and as one of them tried to pull Little from the car he allegedly put the car in reverse at a high speed, prosecutors said.
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The passenger’s side door hit one of the officers, but he was able to jump out of the way, prosecutors said. The other officer was trapped by the driver’s side door and he was dragged by the vehicle as it reversed.
The trapped officer fired one shot at Little, but missed and hit the glove compartment, prosecutors said. The officer was then sandwiched between the Impala and a concrete lane divider.
Little allegedly drove off and nearly hit another officer, prosecutors said. He abandoned the Impala in the 6000 block of South Indiana Avenue. The officer who was dragged was hospitalized in good condition.
On Tuesday, officers found Little hiding in a vehicle that was parked at a Burger King parking lot in the Gresham neighborhood, prosecutors said. Little was taken into custody, and officers recovered a backpack with a 9mm handgun and a small bag of suspected cannabis.
Little, of South Shore, also faces a count of unauthorized use of a vehicle as a weapon and aggravated assault to an officer.
He was expected to appear in court Wednesday.
