Two police officers were struck by a car as they chased a shoplifter in the Bronx on Thursday, the NYPD said.
Cops were chasing the suspect after he stole pillows from a Target store on W. 225th St. near Bailey Ave. in Marble Hill around 7:10 p.m., police and witnesses said.
The officers ran after him into the street, where a gray Honda Civic plowed into them. The suspect was also hit, cops said.
“There was a loud boom,” Jeffrey Valdez, who witnessed the crash, told the Daily News. “Both of the officers were on the ground. They were both almost unconscious from the blast. There were multiple people trying to help them, but other people were saying don’t touch them.”
Two pillows blew through the street while medics and officers quickly arrived on the scene.
The officers were taken to an area hospital to be treated for injuries to their legs, police sources said.
The suspect was taken to Jacobi Hospital in stable condition, where he was in police custody.
The 52-year-old Honda driver — who has one eye — had just left a visit with his mother and was heading back to his Edgewater, N.J., home, his niece told the Daily News.
“He called and said he hit two police officers and a robber from Target,” said Kelsey Casilla, 21. “When he was a kid, he lost his left eye in an accident. He’s a good guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The shoplifter’s charges were pending Thursday night.
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