Conn. Police Officer Run over Trying to Stop Car Abandoned by Driver

STAMFORD, CT—A city police lieutenant had his foot run over while trying to stop a driverless car that eventually crashed through a laundromat window.

The officer, whose name wasn't given out but who was treated at a local hospital after the Wednesday morning accident, was released and back at work, Capt. Richard Conklin said on Thursday.

The events that led up to the injury began with a routine patrol on Bedford Street in downtown Stamford shortly after midnight Wednesday when the officer spotted a car driving the wrong way on the one-way street, according to Conklin.

Conklin said the officer attempted to pull the vehicle over by putting on his police cruiser's lights, but the wrong-way driver responded by placing his car in reverse and leaving the vehicle and abandoning a woman sitting in the passenger side.

The police lieutenant, who got out of his car, tried to place the moving car in park as it rolled in reverse, but he was knocked over by the open driver-side door and run over by the vehicle in the process, Conklin said.

The car then jumped a curb and crashed through the front windows of a Bedford Street laundromat, according to Conklin.

When police backup arrived, Conklin said they found the driver, a 31-year-old man, lying on the side of the road. He was later transported to Stamford Hospital.

Conklin said the incident is still under investigation. As of Thursday, police have not filed any charges or citations against the driver.

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