Oct. 26--A 22-year-old man was fatally injured when he bailed out of a stolen car and was run over by a police cruiser that was pursuing him in Reading, police said.
Hector L. Cruz-Cruz, no permanent address, was taken by city ambulance to Reading Hospital, where he was pronounced dead by a physician at 4:23 a.m.
Reading police provided this account:
The man sped off when a Central Berks Regional police officer tried to pull him over on Carsonia Avenue in Pennside about 2 a.m. The officer pursued the car south into Mount Penn and east on Perkiomen Avenue into the city.
Near Spruce Street, the driver slowed and tried to get out of the car while it was still moving. He was knocked down by the car door.
The Central Berks officer, whose name was not immediately available, could not avoid the man and the cruiser ran over him.
Paramedics found a crowbar inside the man's jacket.
The car the man was driving had been reported stolen a few hours earlier in Reading.
An autopsy is scheduled this afternoon in Reading Hospital.
Updates will be provided as more details become available. See Thursday's Reading Eagle and readingeagle.com for the complete story.
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