Springfield Mass. Police Officers Hit By Stolen Vehicle During Pursuit

Sept. 26, 2023 officers saw a grey Hyundai sedan on Maple Street that was reported as stolen earlier in the day. The officers stopped the car on Broad Street. Police identified the driver as Daniel Walker, 19, of Springfield, and said there were two 14-year-olds in the car.

During the stop, police said Walker suddenly reversed back into a cruiser with two officers inside.

Footage showed the sedan driving forward quickly and over the foot of the officer who’d been standing at the traffic stop and speed away.

The Hyundai barely missed several pedestrians, including children and bicyclists, and other vehicles as it sped toward the intersection of Morris and Central streets and barreled through the stop sign, police said.

The sedan smashed directly into another cruiser that’d been on its way to help, police said, T-boning and totaling the car. Both officers inside the cruiser were hurt in the crash.

The video audibly and visibly depicted the impact: the camera frame rattled as airbags deployed and the camera became loose, swiveling to show an officer’s face as he braced himself in the crash.

Walker and a 14-year-old boy immediately jumped out of the car and started to run, police said, leaving a 14-year-old girl inside. Officer Vicente Gonzalez, who had just been hit inside the cruiser, and Officer Damarr Duncanson rushed to help her before the car became engulfed in flames. The officers later received a Life-Saving medal from the department for their actions.

Police said the 14-year-old boy had been arrested on Central Street, near where the crash happened. Walker, the driver, was arrested by Dale Street, police said.

The three injured officers were brought to Baystate Medical Center and released later that evening. The three teenagers were also brought to the hospital and later released.

Walker had three open criminal cases prior to the incident with prior charges in connection with a hit and run in May, a separate stolen Hyundai incident in June and a firearm arrest in August 2022, police said. He now faces 15 additional charges from the incident in September. These include three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, three counts of leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury, unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and several other motor vehicle charges.

Tools to specifically steal Hyundais and Kias were found inside the sedan, police said. The names of the 14-year-old girl and boy involved in the case and their charges were not released.
#crime_news #surveillance #bodycam #theft #stolenvehicles

Your support means the world to us! If you'd like to help sustain and grow this channel,
consider checking out the following links:

Locals - https://trashmedia.locals.com/
Discord - https://discord.gg/Y2UgjENdQw
Telegram - https://t.me/trashmediagroup
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TrashMediaGroup
Rumble - https://rumble.com/c/c-1909585