Pennsylvania: Shots fired, officer struck by vehicle in Vandergrift
Pennsylvania Law Enforcement
A Vandergrift police officer and a garbage truck driver were hospitalized after apparently being run down by a car just before 9 a.m. today. According to police, Officer Richard “Joe” Gray was struck by a black Chevrolet Impala while walking in the parking lot of Kotchka and Sons along Sherman Avenue. The identity of the garbage truck driver was not immediately available.
Police say witnesses told them Gray yelled to the driver of the Impala to slow down while driving through Kotchka's lot because the vehicle appeared to be traveling at an unsafe speed. It was then, police say, that the driver stopped the car, backed up and appeared to purposely run into Gray.
Before he was struck, police said, Gray fired multiple shots at the vehicle, with at least one bullet striking the windshield. State police have the driver of the car in custody. He was not struck by any of the shots Gray fired. The driver's name was not immediately being released. Gray's condition was not yet available but his injuries were not believed to be life threatening.