OFFICER IS RUN OVER, DRUG SUSPECT IS SHOT IN ARREST

* The arrest gone awry included gunshots, a fleeing car, a struck utility
pole, a bleeding man and the officer and suspect both being hospitalized.

An undercover police officer from Bridgeton suffered minor injuries Friday
after being knocked down by a car driven by a fleeing drug suspect who was
shot in a barrage of gunfire from the officer and his partner in St. Ann.

The suspect drove several blocks before his car struck a utility pole in
Breckenridge Hills. He briefly ran and then collapsed several yards from
the apartment where his girlfriend and newborn baby live.

Police captured the suspect, who was in fair condition Friday evening after
surgery at DePaul Medical Center.

The injured officer was in good condition at DePaul.

St. Ann Police Chief Robert Schrader said the incident began shortly after
1 p.m., when the two undercover agents tried to arrest a man outside the
Orchard Park Apartments in the 3700 block of Geraldine Avenue, just north
of St. Charles Rock Road.

The officers blocked the suspect from leaving when they approached his car.
The man spun his car around to escape, knocking one officer over its hood.

"The only way out was to run over an officer, and that's what he did,"
Schrader said.

Both officers opened fire as the car fled through the apartment building's
parking lot. Several of the car's windows were shot out.

The suspect drove east on St. Charles Rock Road until he lost control,
striking a utility pole near Airway Avenue.

"He jumped out the window and took off on foot," said David Roberts, who
watched the events unfold from the Jiffy Lube where he works.

"Several minutes later, these undercover police cars come sliding in. The
cops jump out with their badges, and guns blazing."

The suspect ran to the Glentown Apartments across the street and collapsed
on the sidewalk. Neighbors gathered around him, unaware that police were on
his tail.

Resident Daphne Hicks held the suspect's hand while others called for
paramedics.

"I told him, 'You're going to be OK,' " Hicks said later while rubbing his
blood off her fingers. "That's when the police came and yelled for me to
get away."

Neighbors said the suspect often visits the apartments to see his
girlfriend and 2-month-old baby.

Police said they had been waiting for the suspect to visit the Orchard Park
Apartments. They approached his car after he knocked on an apartment door
and no one answered.

The officers involved in the arrest are part of the North County Municipal
Enforcement Group, a special task force designed for undercover drug
operations.

A St. Ann patrolman was injured in a wreck while trying to reach the scene.
He and the driver of the car that collided with his were in good condition
Friday.

Police said the collision occurred several blocks away, when a motorist
apparently missed the siren and flashing lights of a patrol car and pulled
in front of it.

Officials would not release the names of anyone involved.