A possible case of driving under the influence turned into a police chase Wednesday, and eventually led to police in Lancaster shooting and wounding a man. Now an investigation is underway.
It all started shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday. A concerned citizen called police after seeing a man who appeared to be heavily intoxicated, leaving a liquor store in the 200 block of North Queen Street. Police say the man, who was driving a white Chevy Impala, almost ran over an officer trying to stop him. He then allegedly led police on a chase spanning several city blocks.
Police say the man clipped several parked cars during the chase. "The man struck several vehicles. I don't have all of the locations but we are processing and taking those reports as well," said Lancaster City Police Chief Keith Sadler.
Chief Sadler said then the driver attempted to turn right onto Campbell Avenue he hit the corner of a building. Officers then ordered the driver out of the vehicle, but the driver put the car in reverse, nearly running over a police officer. One of the officers then fired his service weapon at the driver, who was still behind the wheel, striking the driver one time in the thigh. The driver then attempted to drive forward, striking the building again. The driver continued to refuse commands and would not exit the vehicle. Officers were eventually able to remove the driver from the vehicle and take him into custody.
"I have been doing this for 34 years and there is an element in society that doesn't obey anybody. In this case it appears the male was highly intoxicated, so did that come into play? I don't know at this point," said Chief Sadler. "There was pedestrians on the street, fortunately he didn't clip them. It could have turned into something very deadly."
The man and the officer who fired the shot have not been identified. It's unclear if the man was in the vehicle when police fired. Police took him to Lancaster General Hospital with a graze wound to his leg.
"I can't comment on this guys thought process at this point, but needless to say, no citizens were hurt. Clearly at this time in the day in the city, as congested as it is in the middle of the day, people are out at lunch hour, certainly this could have ended worse than it turned out," said Chief Sadler.
