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St. Paul police officer dragged by truck during chase
Surveillance video posted by the department shows a St. Paul police officer who was chasing a suspect getting dragged by a white truck on Thursday.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - St. Paul police are searching for the driver and passenger who apparently assisted a suspect wanted in a harassment case and dragged a police officer during a getaway on Thursday, all of which was captured on security video.
Police say the incident started shortly before 1 p.m. on the 900 block of Arcade Street. In the video we see a man in red clothing being chased by an officer as an additional squad pulls up. According to the police department, officers were called out by a 911 call for a man who was harassing and chasing a 14-year-old girl around the neighborhood.
As the second squad rolls up in the video, the harassment suspect dodges it and continues running down the block. At the same time, a white truck, believed to be a Dodge Ram, zooms past the stopped police squad and stops on the street.
As the man in red continues sprinting down the street, chased by the officer, he hops into the bed of the white truck. Police say a person in the passenger seat told the man to jump in.
The officer, in a last bid to make an arrest, jumps onto the side of the truck as the driver takes off. At that point, police say the suspect grabbed the officer's arm as he hung on the side of the truck and hit him in the face. The officer holds onto the truck for several seconds, with hit feet scraping the roadway, before getting his arm free and falling off as the truck passes through the intersection.
After falling, the officer, identified as Officer Morgan, quickly gets back on his feet. Police say Officer Morgan escaped the attack with only scrapes, bumps and bruises.
Now, police are working to track down everyone involved in the incident.
"Officer Morgan is tough, so he's going to be OK," a statement from Chief Todd Axtell reads. "But this could have ended tragically; we got lucky. It just goes to show you how quickly a seemingly ordinary call for service can take strange and dangerous turns. Hopefully someone out there knows who was involved and will give us a call so we can figure out why the man was chasing the 14-year-old girl and why the driver decided to help him make a break for it."
Anyone with information on the suspect or people in the truck is asked to call 651-266-5650.