Police Arrest Man They Say Injured Four Boston Police Officers with His Car

PHOTO VIA ISTOCK / ARTOLYMPIC

Update 12:34 p.m.: Police say they have a suspect in custody, who they believe is the man they say dragged two officers 20 feet with his car and struck two others while fleeing the scene in Upham’s Corner. Police arrested Vincent Weaks, 34, of Roxbury at about 10:20 a.m. after finding him near 49 Greenwood Street in Roxbury, according to a release. He will be due in Roxbury District Court on assault and battery charges.

Earlier: Four Boston Police officers have been released from the hospital after a run-in with a suspect in Dorchester early Wednesday.

Police say two officers were dragged by the suspect’s vehicle, and two more were struck by the car, as he attempted to drive away. Their injuries were described as not life-threatening.

The incident began a few minutes before 1 a.m. this morning, when officers responded to reports of a man with a gun near Stoughton Street in Upham’s Corner. When police approached the man and asked him to leave his car, police say, he sped away.

In a statement, police described a chaotic scene:

Two officers began to struggle with the suspect, one on the driver’s side, the other on the passenger’s side as they tried to take the keys out of the ignition and gain control of the suspect’s hands.  The suspect was able to get the vehicle in gear and accelerate away, dragging the officers with him as he fled.  Two other officers who were coming to their aid were also struck by the front of the vehicle, causing them to fall to the ground.  After about twenty feet, the two officers who were being dragged were thrown from the vehicle and landed on the street. 

Other officers pursued the suspect, but lost him about a mile away near Draper Street, police say.

BPD did not provide Boston with a description of the suspect or the car he was driving, but there were reports from the scene that police were searching for a black man with a beard in a silver 2016 Chevy Malibu with a Connecticut license plate.